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00 a 00 - 32 - Cattle-fattening o~erations with purchased calves require additional management skills, resources, and characteristics not previously mentioned. Skills in buying and selling of cattle and calves are required, as well as skills in feeding and caring for the cattle. Considerable operating capital is required, and a willingness to take large risks is also required. Settlers of new farm units are quite likely to be lacking in one or more of these essentials. Investment requireMents for these three operations ranges from about $83,000 to $118,000. Returns to operator's labor are $4,965 for the plan for fattening calves and using pasture. A large surplus of alfalfa hay is produced for sale on the plan for calf fattening in drylot and, consequently, returns to operator's labor are $10,645 even though fewer calves are fattened. Again, problems could be encoun- tered in marketing hay, and lower prices would reduce the returns accordingly. The plan for a beef-breeding herd on outside rangeland produces a return to selected factors of $14,362. After allowance for payment for water and for interest on investment, a surplus of $6,134 remains. No expense has been included for renting a pasture, and this surplus must cover rental costs for 1,141 animal-unit months of outside pasture, as well as provide for a return to operator's labor. If pasture could be obtained for $1.00 to $1.25 per animal-unit-month, return to the operator for his labor would compare favorably with several alternatives previously considered. At the present time, it is not uncommon for ranchers to obtain outside pasture at rates of $1.00 to $2.00 per Ailll or less, where privately owned pasture is rented on a per-acre basis. If the project were built, and many farm operators attempted to rent outside pasture, competition would undoubtedly force prices to substantially higher levels. This would of course have an adverse effect on this last alternative considered, and, as previously mentioned, could also have an adverse effect on costs of existing ranches using range leased from individ- uals.