Self-study
Ostrich farming requires far less acreage than cattle ranching requires, and ostriches reproduce much faster than cattle. ████████ ███ ██ ██████ ████████ ████████ █ █████ ████ ██ █████ ███ █████ ███ ██ █████ ███ █████ ███ ████ ██ █████████ ███ █████ ██ ████████ █████████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ███████ ████████ ███ ████████ █████ ███ ███████ ███████ ███ ████████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████ █████ ██ ██ ████ ██ ████ █████ ████ ██████ ████████ █████
Summary
Ostrich farming requires less land than cattle farming. Ostriches reproduce faster than cattle. Starting in cattle ranching requires a large herd of cows, a bull, and at least two acres per cow. Starting in ostrich farming requires two pairs of yearling ostriches and one acre of land. The start-up costs for ostrich farming is greater than that for cattle farming. Ostrich farming can eventually yield five times the returns as cattle farming.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
Ostrich farming allows farmers to eventually produce greater yields with less land than cattle ranching. Two pairs of yearling ostriches plus one acre of land is more expensive than a large herd of cows, a bull, and two acres per cow.
17.
Which one of the following ██ ████ ████████ █████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██████
a
Two pairs of ████████ █████████ ███ ████ █████████ ████ █ ████ ██ ████ ███ █ █████
This is strongly supported since we know that the start-up costs for ostrich farming is higher than that for bull farming, and starting an ostrich farm requires two pairs of yearling ostriches compared to a herd of cows and a bull for cattle ranching.
b
Cattle ranching is ███ █ ████ ██████ ██ ███████
This is unsupported because even though ostrich farming may yield greater returns than cattle farming (relative statement), cattle farming could still be a good source of income (absolute statement).
c
A cow consumes ██ ████ ████ ████ ██ ███████ █████
This is unsupported because the stimulus never clearly tells us how much cattle and ostriches need to eat.
d
The average ostrich ████ █████████ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████ ██████
This is unsupported because while ostrich farming could potentially yield five times that of cattle ranching, we don’t know that the average ostrich farm is productive enough to reach these maximum possible gains.
e
Ostrich farmers typically ████ █████ ██████ █████ █████ █████
This is unsupported because although the startup costs are higher for ostrich farming than cattle farming, it is possible that both are profitable in their first year.