Logical Reasoning

PT101 · S3 · Q7 In response to requests made by

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In response to requests made by the dairy industry, the government is considering whether to approve the synthetic hormone BST for use in dairy cows.

Statements

The govt. is considering whether to approve the synthetic hormone BST for use in dairy cows.

comparing tradeoffs

(+) increases milk production (-) leads to inflamed udders, decreased fertility, and symptoms of stress

(+) we could keep those problems under control with constant veterinary care (-) that sort of intensive veterinary oversight would cost big farms far less per cow than it would cost small farms

Evaluate

Since this is prefaced by saying the government is trying to figure out whether to approve BST, let's put ourselves into its shoes: would we approve it?

At first it sounded like the negatives (inflamed udders, worse fertility, stress) aren't worth the increased milk production. But then it sounded like we can actually manage the negatives and make them now too bad.

However, in the end we heard that big farms would have an easier time managing the negatives than would small farms. So if we were to approve the use of BST, it would probably be more likely to be used at big farms. For small farms, the benefit of increased milk production probably wouldn't be enough to offset the huge increased cost of constant veterinary care for the cows (maybe they would just use the BST and let the cows suffer the adverse symptoms without any uptick in veterinary care).

Goal

It's hard to know what the answer will say, but those last two ideas seem like they'll be part of it. Let's look for something safely worded that reflects the idea that big farms would have an easier time benefiting from the approval of BST than would small farms.

If the statements above are true, which one of the following claims is most strongly supported by them?

The government is unlikely to
Too Strong: unlikely
We don't know anything about this government, so we have no way to predict what actions would be likely / unlikely on its behalf.
2% picked this
The proportion of cows that
Out of Scope
Out of Scope: current proportion Opposite, if anything We don't have any information about the current incidence of inflamed udders, lower fertility, and stress on big vs. small farms. These farms aren't yet using BST. We don't know if big farms already are using constant veterinary care to address cows with any of these symptoms. If anything, though, we'd expect the bigger farms to be more likely to have veterinary care and thus less likely to have a higher proportion of cows suffering these symptoms.
5% picked this
At the present time milk
Out of Scope: safer to drink
Like (B), this offers a totally out of scope comparison about big vs. small farms. The only thing we know about big vs. small farms is that the former can better absorb the cost of having a full-time veterinarian on staff than can the latter. We know nothing about the respective practices of big vs. small farms, so we couldn't possibly derive a judgment on the safety of their milk.
1% picked this
The milk from cows who
Out of Scope: unsafe for people
There's no evidence in this paragraph at all suggesting that it would be unsafe to drink milk from BST cows. The fact that this milk-boosting hormone has some adverse side effects on cows doesn't mean that the hormone will show up in the milk, or that it will show up in quantities that have any effects on humans who drink the milk.
1% picked this
Correct
Owners of big farms stand
Why this is right
This reflects the economic comparison made in the last sentence. All farms would benefit from the increased milk-production of BST cows (more milk = more revenue). But using BST comes with a cost, too. In order to manage the adverse symptoms of BST, your farm needs to have constant veterinary care for the cows. And we're told that big farms would spend less per cow on that veterinary care than would small farms. So they would enjoy the same boost to revenue (because for both types of farms, the cows would make more milk). But small farms would have a bigger increase to their expenses, proportionately, than would bigger farms. If numbers help, suppose that regular cows give us $10 worth of milk everyday. If we give the cow BST, then it will give us $15 worth of milk everyday. At a big farm, the cost per cow of the constant veterinary care is $2 / cow, so if they used BST, they would have a net increase of $3 / cow ( +$5 when it comes to milk, offset by -$2 when it comes to vet care). At a small farm, the cost per cow of the vet care is $4 / cow, so if they used BST, they would only have a net increase of $1 / cow.
Skill tested: Most Supported · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.
91% picked this

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