Premium Essay

Old Mule Farms Case Solution

In:

Submitted By apruitt01
Words 522
Pages 3
To: | Michael Giberson, BECO 4310-006 | From: | Arielle Pruitt | Date: | January 27, 2014 | Re: | Old Mule Farms Case | | | | |
Jim and Donna Green live on a farm that has been in their family for three generations. However, they have been losing money over the past couple of years because of what it costs to maintain their cows they use for breeding. To help offset their losses, Donna focused on making sure the calf weight at weaning was larger than in past. She also included nutrients in their feed and selected sires whose calves generally grew at a faster rate. These measures helped to increase the farms efficiency but unfortunately it was still not enough. One night after watching The Cattle Show on television, Donna and Jim had several questions on how they should proceed to raise their revenue for the upcoming year. Their first was question is what is the appropriate size for each cow in the herd. The second question the couple has is which method was most appropriate at measuring size: weaning a calf that weighs half of its mother, or comparing the cost of selling the calf to the cost of maintaining the cow. Their third and final concern is to figure out what the drivers of the cow-calf operation are and if the revenue-expense calculation is clear in regards to drivers.
To answer Donna’s first question, I would recommend the average cow size in the herd be 1,100 pounds. The method that most appropriately measures this factor is comparing the cost of selling the calf to the cost of maintaining the cow. As for the last question the couple has, I believe the main driver in this situation is the weight of each cow, and the revenue-expense calculation is proof of this.
Each cow in the herd should weigh 1,100 pounds. It seems that no matter the weight of the cows, the Greens will still be losing profit, but they will lose the least amount if weight

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Title

...Old Mule Farms Harvard Case Solution & Analysis Question 1.          What is the appropriate cow size of the herd using the 50% weaning rule? Answer: The appropriate cow size of the herd under the 50 percent weaning rule is 1100 lbs as it is the most appropriate percentage of the weaning. In addition to the weaning rule, the 1100 lbs is appropriate because of the reason that, no matter what the weight of the cow, but at 1100 lbs of weight; the loss will be lower. As a result of lower loss, the 1100 lbs will be the appropriate cow size. Please refer the Exhibit 1 for determining the appropriate cow size. Question 2.          Compare the value of a calf to the cost of maintaining the cow as an alternative means of determining appropriate cow size. Hint: Calculate marginal revenue and marginal expense. Which method (50% weaning rule or marginal analysis) do you think provides the best measure? Why? Answer: The most appropriate method that is used to compare a calf value to the cost of maintaining the cow is the marginal analysis as it gives the marginal revenue that is calculated as changes in the revenue is divided by the changes in output in terms of quantity. For the comparison of a calf value to the cost of maintaining the cow against determining the cow size, the measure that is used under each weight class of cow is the cost of selling the calves in comparison with the cost of maintaining the cows. To support the above answer, calculation has been made in Excel...

Words: 671 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

The Problem of Human Population Growth

...Human Population and Environmental Problems by PAUL R. EHRLICH, Ph.D.(Kansas) Professor of Biology and Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, U.S.A. rather small number that are thought of as 'important' forms of wildlife—will have a dramatic negative feedback effect on the capacity of our planet to support human life. This is because, although politicians and laymen tend to focus attention on air pollution and water pollution as the most serious environmental problems, in fact the most devastating of all is the destruction of the life-support systems of our planet. These are the natural ecosystems that provide us with a series of public-service functions without which we cannot persist indefinitely on this Earth—such functions as maintaining the quality of the atmosphere, controlling roughly 99 % of the potential agricultural pests, recycling of our waste products, and many other services that we cannot perform for ourselves (Ehrlich et al., 1973). The third message which I would like to give you is that the time for research as a major approach to the world's problems is long past. If you are trapped in a forest, downwind from a forest fire, and it is raging towards you at ten or more kilometres per hour, you do not immediately convene a committee to study reforestation—you call for water. In human society, calling for water basically consists of promoting political action...

Words: 5349 - Pages: 22

Premium Essay

Research Google and Discover at Least 5 Technologies Google Is Currently Developing

...acquisitioning robotic companies in order to develop their own robotics division; this Research and Development (R&D) laboratory is called Google X. Little is known about Google X and their doings, for security and privacy, just what is permitted and released by their Public Relations office. One of their most important acquisitions was Boston Dynamics who formally worked on robotics projects for the Pentagon (Smith, 2014). Google X is focusing on developing robots to perform the most ordinary of simple tasks around the home and workplace (Mack, 2011). But a more positive aspect is Google’s contribution to the War on Terrorism with their AlphaDog which is currently in training with the Marine Corps. This robot looking dog can be seen as a mule carrying large loads over unfriendly terrain, extremely helpful and import to the Marine mission (Love, 2014). With the much recent procurement of robotic companies there is an underlying tone that suggests that more attention will be pursued in robotics, giving the well-deserved attention needed to boost the...

Words: 3424 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

What Is Cloning

...What is Cloning? Clones are organisms that are exact genetic copies. Every single bit of their DNA is identical. Clones can happen naturally—identical twins are just one of many examples. Or they can be made in the lab. Below, find out how natural identical twins are similar to and different from clones made through modern cloning technologies. How Is Cloning Done? Many people first heard of cloning when Dolly the Sheep showed up on the scene in 1997. Artificial cloning technologies have been around for much longer than Dolly, though. There are two ways to make an exact genetic copy of an organism in a lab: artificial embryo twinning and somatic cell nuclear transfer. 1. Artificial Embryo Twinning Artificial embryo twinning is a relatively low-tech way to make clones. As the name suggests, this technique mimics the natural process that creates identical twins. In nature, twins form very early in development when the embryo splits in two. Twinning happens in the first days after egg and sperm join, while the embryo is made of just a small number of unspecialized cells. Each half of the embryo continues dividing on its own, ultimately developing into separate, complete individuals. Since they developed from the same fertilized egg, the resulting individuals are genetically identical. Artificial embryo twinning uses the same approach, but it is carried out in a Petri dish instead of inside the mother. A very early embryo is separated into individual cells, which are allowed...

Words: 8659 - Pages: 35

Premium Essay

Cognitive Computing

...Susan Edson 1 THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION Escrito por: Susan Edson Dirigido por: D. Juan Carlos Palmer Trabajo presentado para la obtención del Titulo Universitario Senior Universitat Jaume I Castellón, mayo 2005 2 Indice: I. General Concept………………………………..…… 4 1. First industrial revolution 2. Second industrial revolution 3. Modernization II. Europe……………………………………………….. 9 1. England 2. Scotland 3. Rest of Europe III. U.S.A………………………………………………... 17 1. The growth of U.S. industry. 2.Organization of industrial relations. 3.Agriculture. IV. Developments and innovations……………………… 24 1. Colonialism 2. Apprenticeship 3. Science and technology 4. Machine tools 5. Textiles 6. Steam engines 7. Locomotives and Steamboats 8. The Electric Telegraph 9. Architecture 10. Rubber 11. Lighting 12. Time V. Conclusions………………………………………... 42 VI. Bibliography………………………………………… 44 3 I. General Concept 1. The First Industrial Revolution Between 1760 and 1830 the Industrial Revolution was mainly confined to Britain. Being aware of its head start on other countries, Britain forbade the export of machinery, skilled workers and manufacturing techniques. This could not last, as many Britons saw profitable industrial opportunities abroad and continental European businessmen were keen to lure British know-how to their countries. Belgium became the first country in continental Europe to be transformed economically, having machine shops ...

Words: 10404 - Pages: 42

Free Essay

Breeder's Own Pet Food Inc.

...Mississippi ratifies 13th amendment abolishing slavery ... 147 years late Academics prompt ratification after noticing that 1995 move to accept amendment detailed in Lincoln had not been completed * Share77 * * * 1 * inShare0 * ------------------------------------------------- Email Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln. Photograph: David James/AP Mississippi has officially ratified the 13th amendment to the US constitution, which abolishes slavery and which was officially noted in the constitution on 6 December 1865. All 50 states have now ratified the amendment. 1. ------------------------------------------------- Lincoln 2. Production year: 2012 3. Countries: India, Rest of the world, USA 4. Cert (UK): 12A 5. Runtime: 150 mins 6. Directors: Steven Spielberg 7. Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, David Strathairn, Hal Holbrook, James Spader, John Hawkes, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lee Pace, Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones 8. More on this film Mississippi's tardiness has been put down to an oversight that was only corrected after two academics embarked on research prompted by watching Lincoln, Steven Spielberg's Oscar-nominated film about president Abraham Lincoln's efforts to secure the amendment. Dr Ranjan Batra, a professor in the department of neurobiology and anatomical sciences at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, saw Spielberg's film and wondered about the implementation of the 13th amendment after the Civil War. He discussed...

Words: 15462 - Pages: 62

Premium Essay

Sustainable Agriculture Extension Manual

...food-security problem is not merely an inability to produce enough food to keep pace with population growth. Such a simplistic reckoning fails to take into account the ecological, cultural, social and economic features which are the bedrock of sustainable agriculture. Environmental degradation and a diminishing resource base seriously affect African farmers who depend on rainfed agriculture. As critical watersheds are deforested, water supplies have become unreliable and the climate less predictable. Local actors are seldom consulted when agricultural policies are formulated. Small-scale farmers (especially women) find it hard to get credit, seeds and other inputs, and the information they need to farm their land in a profitable, sustainable way. Some governments still control the prices of key farm outputs, and unscrupulous traders manipulate the prices of others. In addition, political instability is a major obstacle to food security and sustainable agriculture in many countries. Access to sufficient food is a sustainable manner is a fundamental human right. Realizing this, NGOs, community organizations, research institutions and governments in Africa have been testing alternative agricultural technologies and approaches for over a decade. Such approaches as "conservation farming" and organic agriculture are becoming part of the technical packages of both international and...

Words: 57265 - Pages: 230

Premium Essay

Global Profiles of the Fraudsters

...Global profiles of the fraudster White-collar crime – present and future kpmg.com/fraudster 2 Global profiles of the fraudster F Introduction to the typical fraudster identified in the investigations KPMG firms reported on two years earlier. The typical fraudster in the 2013 study is 36 to 45 years of age, is generally acting against his/her own organization, and is mostly employed in an executive,3 finance, operations or sales/ marketing function. He/she holds a senior management position, was employed in the organization in excess of six years and, in committing the fraud, frequently acted in concert with others. Other findings, however, are different. This time, we have developed a series of themes in order to understand the changing relationship among the fraudster, his/ her environment and the frauds committed. And after taking into account the insights of our investigation leaders around the world, we conclude that the type of fraud and the type of fraudster are continually changing. “The intriguing thing about fraud is that it is always morphing, like a strain of flu; you can cure today’s strain, but next year it evolves into something as bad if not worse, ” says Phil Ostwalt, Global Coordinator for Investigations for the Global Forensic practice at KPMG. One major change is the growing use of technology by fraudsters, and not just in the technologically advanced countries, such as the US “a concern for all business is that we are about to see a new generation...

Words: 10259 - Pages: 42

Free Essay

English Lit

...The Age of Revolution i789-1848 E R I C HOBSBAWM FIRST VINTAGE BOOKS EDITION, AUGUST 1996 Copyright © 1962 by E. J. Hobsbawm All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Originally published in Great Britain in hardcover by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, in 1962. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hobsbawm, E.J. (EricJ.), 1917The Age of Revolution, 1789-1898 / Eric Hobsbawm.—1st Vintage Books ed. p. cm. Originally published: London : Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1962. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-679-77253-7 1. Europe—History—1789-1900. 2. Industrial revolution. I. Title. D299.H6 1996 940.2'7—dc20 96-7765 CIP VINTAGE BOOKS A Division of Random House, Inc. New York Random House Web address: http://www.randomhouse.com/ Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 CHAPTER MAPS 1 T H E W O R L D IN T H E 1780s Le dix-huittime stick doit lire mis au Panlhion.—Saint-Just1 i Europe in 1789 page 309 2 Europe in 1810 310 3 Europe in 1840 311 4 World Population in Large Cities: 1800-1850 31a 5 Western Culture 1815-1848: Opera 314 6 The States of Europe in 1836 316 7 Workshop of the World 317 8 Industrialization of Europe: 1850 318 9 Spread of French Law 320 I T H E first thing to observe about the world...

Words: 21388 - Pages: 86

Free Essay

States

...States 1 Caught in a meager, anonymous space outside a drab Arab city, outside a refugee camp, outside the crushing time of one disaster after another, a wedding party stands, surprised, sad, slightly uncomfortable. Palestinians — the telltale mixture of styles and attitudes is so evidently theirs — near Tripoli in northern Lebanon. A few months after this picture was taken their camp was ravaged by intra-Palestinian fighting. Cutting across the wedding party’s path here is the ever-present Mercedes, emblazoned with its extra mark of authenticity, the proud D for Deutschland. A rare luxury in the West, the Mercedes — usually secondhand and smuggled in — is the commonest of cars in the Levant. It has become what horse, mule, and camel were, and then much more. Universal taxi, it is a symbol of modern technology domesticated, of the intrusion of the West into traditional life, of illicit trade. More important, the Mercedes is the all-purpose conveyance, something one uses for everything — funerals, weddings, births, proud display, leaving home, coming home, fixing, stealing, reselling, running away in, hiding in. But because Palestinians have no state of their own to shield them, the Mercedes, its provenance and destination obscure, seems like an intruder, a delegate of the forces that both dislocate and hem them in. “The earth is closing on us, pushing us through the last passage,” writes the poet Mahmoud Darwish. Tripoli, Badawi camp, May 1983. 2 The paradox of mobility...

Words: 8577 - Pages: 35

Premium Essay

In Cold Blood Pdf

...and the views are awesomely extensive; horses, herds of cattle, a white cluster of grain elevators rising as gracefully as Greek temples are visible long before a traveler reaches them. Holcomb, too, can be seen from great distances. Not that there's much to see simply an aimless congregation of buildings divided in the center by the main-line tracks of the Santa Fe Rail-road, a haphazard hamlet bounded on the south by a brown stretch of the Arkansas (pronounced "Ar-kan-sas") River, on the north by a highway, Route 50, and on the east and west by prairie lands and wheat fields. After rain, or when snowfalls thaw, the streets, unnamed, unshaded, unpaved, turn from the thickest dust into the direst mud. At one end of the town stands a stark old stucco structure, the roof of which supports an electric sign - dance - but the dancing has ceased and the advertisement has been dark for several years. Nearby is another building with an irrelevant sign, this one in flaking gold on a dirty window - Holcomb bank. The bank closed in 1933, and its former counting rooms have been converted into apartments. It is one of the town's two "apartment houses," the second being a ramshackle mansion known, because a good part of the local school's faculty lives there, as the Teacherage. But the majority of Holcomb's homes are...

Words: 124288 - Pages: 498

Premium Essay

In Cold Blood

...and the views are awesomely extensive; horses, herds of cattle, a white cluster of grain elevators rising as gracefully as Greek temples are visible long before a traveler reaches them. Holcomb, too, can be seen from great distances. Not that there's much to see simply an aimless congregation of buildings divided in the center by the main-line tracks of the Santa Fe Rail-road, a haphazard hamlet bounded on the south by a brown stretch of the Arkansas (pronounced "Ar-kan-sas") River, on the north by a highway, Route 50, and on the east and west by prairie lands and wheat fields. After rain, or when snowfalls thaw, the streets, unnamed, unshaded, unpaved, turn from the thickest dust into the direst mud. At one end of the town stands a stark old stucco structure, the roof of which supports an electric sign - dance - but the dancing has ceased and the advertisement has been dark for several years. Nearby is another building with an irrelevant sign, this one in flaking gold on a dirty window - Holcomb bank. The bank closed in 1933, and its former counting rooms have been converted into apartments. It is one of the town's two "apartment houses," the second being a ramshackle mansion known, because a good part of the local school's faculty lives there, as the Teacherage. But the majority of Holcomb's homes are...

Words: 124288 - Pages: 498

Premium Essay

Instiutions

...Review of Review of Economics and Institutions ISSN 2038-1379 DOI10.5202/rei.v1i2.1 ECONOMICS and INSTITUTIONS Vol. 1 – No. 2, Fall 2010 – Article 1 www.rei.unipg.it The Role of Institutions in Growth and Development Massachusetts Institute of Technology Daron Acemoglu Harvard University and Weatherhead Center for International Affairs James Robinson Abstract: In this paper we argue that the main determinant of differences in prosperity across countries are differences in economic institutions. To solve the problem of development will entail reforming these institutions. Unfortunately, this is difficult because economic institutions are collective choices that are the outcome of a political process. The economic institutions of a society depend on the nature of political institutions and the distribution of political power in society. As yet, we only have a highly preliminary understanding of the factors that lead a society into a political equilibrium which supports good economic institutions. However, it is clear that it is the political nature of an institutional equilibrium that makes it very difficult to reform economic institutions. We illustrate this with a series of pitfalls of institutional reforms. Our analysis reveals challenges for those who would wish to solve the problem of development and poverty. That such challenges exist is hardly surprising and we believe that the main reason for such challenges is the forces we have outlined...

Words: 14840 - Pages: 60

Free Essay

Ulysses Grant

...Page 1 Ulysses S. Grant (2002) Program Transcript Part One Narrator: October 23, 1863. Chattanooga, Tennessee. After a grueling four-day journey, General Ulysses S. Grant arrived at Union headquarters. He had injured his leg and had to be helped off his horse. Once again, he was dogged by rumors that he'd been drinking. He listened silently as his officers described a bleak situation. The Union Army was surrounded. Men and horses faced starvation. A Confederate victory seemed inevitable. Grant thanked his men, and began to write his orders. Max Byrd, Novelist: You see a lot of Grant in just that act of writing. The concentration and the determination. He never looked up. He never hesitated. He never seemed to search for a word. Geoffrey Perr et, Biographer: By the time he'd finished, he was surrounded by pieces of, of paper that he'd covered with his, his very even hand writing. In effect, he had fought the battle already in his o wn mind. Narrator: Before the war, Grant had been a nobody, a failure as a farmer and a businessman. As Commanding General, he was called an incompetent, a butcher. But he would win every campaign he ever fought. His plain, Midwestern w ays would captivate the American people. David W. Blight, Historian: There was something about that element of the American dream of that rags to riches story. He had experienced humiliation and he had understood failure. And I suspect a lot of Americans could see themselves in him. Donald Miller, Historian: Grant...

Words: 26235 - Pages: 105

Premium Essay

Rural Marketing

...Rural Marketing Quite clearly, large Indian companies have begun looking at rural markets seriously. Some of them are even developing exclusive marketing strategies to tap this huge mass of consumers. Of India's one billion plus population, nearly 70 per cent live in non-urban or rural areas. According to a National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) study, there are as many "middle income and above" households in rural areas as there are in urban areas. There are almost twice as many "lower middle income" households in rural areas as in urban. According to NCAER's projections, the number of middle and high-income households in rural India is expected to grow from 80 million to 111 million by 2007. In Urban India, the same is expected to grow from 46 million to 59 million. Hence the absolute size of middle and high income households in Rural India is expected to be nearly double that of Urban India. Percentage Distribution of household population and income | |Households |Population |Income | |Rural |73.6 |74.6 |55.6 | |Urban |27.4 |25.4 |44.4 | |All India |100 |100 |100 | Thus we see that Rural India contributes almost 56% to the National Income as against 44% contributed by Urban India. Although it is contributed by 76% of the total...

Words: 15293 - Pages: 62