Logical Reasoning

PT144 · S4 · Q17 Ostrich farming requires far less

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Ostrich farming requires far less acreage than cattle ranching requires, and ostriches reproduce much faster than cattle.

Information

comparisons (far less / much faster)

Ostrich farming requires fewer acres than cattle farming, and ostriches reproduce much faster than cattle.

comparison (by contrast)

Start-up requirements for cattle ranching are a large herd of cows, one bull, and at least two acres per cow.

Start-up requirements for ostrich farming are two pairs of yearling ostriches and one acre of similar land.

comparisons (greater / five times)

Start up costs for ostrich farming are greater, but it can bring in as much as five times what cattle ranching does.

Evaluate

If you were thinking, "Should I farm cattle or ostriches", ostriches seems to win in almost every category: 1. you need fewer acres 2. they reproduce faster 3. you only need four ostriches an one acre of land to get going 4. it can bring in 5x the revenue

The one downside is that the start-up costs are greater. We might be scratching our heads, thinking,

It must be really expensive to buy those two pairs of yearling ostriches.

After all, when we compare start-up costs for each,

CATTLE OSTRICHES one bull + two pairs (4) yearling ostriches large herd of cows

two acres one acre of similar land per cow

We're definitely saving money when it comes to acreage. We only have to pay for one acre of similar (and thus similarly priced) land. For cattle, we need two acres to per cow and we start with a large herd of cows (that's definitely at least 10 cows, so at least 20 acres of land).

So the only place where ostriches could cost more would be paying for those two pairs of yearlings.

Goal

Let's look for something playing off these comparisons, being wary of overstating the case (there might be answers making sensational claims about how much better ostrich farming is). Maybe it will have something to do with the "hidden fact" that two pairs of yearlings are apparently pretty pricey to procure.

17.

Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the information above?

  1. Correct

    Two pairs of yearling ostriches

    Why this is right

    As we discussed, we were told (surprisingly) that the start-up costs for ostrich farming are greater than the costs for cattle farming. And yet here was the side-by-side comparison of what is needed to start up: CATTLE OSTRICHES one bull + two pairs (4) yearling ostriches large herd of cows two acres one acre of similar land per cow When it comes to land, we're definitely spending way more on Cattle farming, since we seem to need at least 20 acres there, whereas we need only 1 for ostriches. So the bigger price tag of ostrich farming's start-up costs would have to be because it's more expensive to buy "two pairs of yearlings" than it is to buy "one bull + a large herd of cows".

    Skill tested: Most Supported · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    79% picked this

  2. Cattle ranching is not a

    Too Strong: not good

    The fact that ostrich farming can eventually be a better source of income doesn't allow us to say that cattle ranching is not a good source of income. If you're a ritzy lawyer making $250k a year, you'd accurately say that "being a lawyer is a good source of income". The fact that some hedge fund manager or CEO might make five times what you do doesn't change that.

    1% picked this

  3. A cow consumes no more

    Out of Scope

    Out of Scope: amount of feed consumed We get no information about how much feed a cow vs. an ostrich consumes. That would relate more to the operating costs of cattle farming vs. ostrich farming, which we heard nothing about.

    1% picked this

  4. The average ostrich farm generates

    Too Strong: average One-Claim Trap

    We're only told that ostrich farming can bring in as much as five times the revenue of cattle farming. That's saying it's possible. This answer is saying it's typical. The average ostrich farm is making five times as much profit as the average cattle ranch. Our support for this answer would come purely from the final claim in the paragraph. We should always be nervous about picking an answer on Inference that's only supported by one claim. The name of the game here is to combine claims in order to derive the correct answer.

    12% picked this

  5. Ostrich farmers typically lose money

    Too Strong

    Too Strong: typically Out of Scope: lose money We get the sense from the final sentence that while there's a bigger buy-in risk with ostrich farming, it potentially has a bigger return on investment. But we have no way to justify the claim that more than 50% of ostrich farmers are losing money during their first year.

    7% picked this

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