1a)
Y U Ranch carried 165 Longhorn cattle that were raised for beef, breeding and showing. In terms of the beef industry, the meat was quite lean due to the forages Bryan Gilvesy fed to his cattle. Following the mainstream market for beef ranchers, Gilvesy entered some of his cattle into public auction barns where his cattle were weighed and auctioned off by pound, also known as ‘scaling’. The buyers in these auctions are known as packers and act as intermediaries for the ranchers and the customers, where they slaughter and prepare the meat for distribution. Products from Y U Ranch included frankfurters, ground beef patties, and various other cuts. Y U Ranch would also sell directly to a few local customers without the use of an intermediary. …show more content…
This drug has been approved and claimed to be safe in the meat of an animal that has been implanted with this drug, by the United State Department of Agriculture and the World Health Organization. It is estimated that an individual cattle’s weight would increase by 20 pounds of saleable meat. If I were in Gilvesy’s position, I would purchase Ralgro for my cattle. This is because Ralgro has been proved safe and the effects of increasing weight gain and feed efficiency would translate into an increase in profit of $45.80 per cattle including the small implant cost. Some may take the other position and not use the implant for ethical reasons and because meat from an animal that has been treated with Ralgro is not allowed in the European Union. However, most of Y U Ranch’s beef is sold in Canada and the United States and not being allowed to sell to European countries would have little to no effect on Y U Ranch’s profits. Therefore I would use Ralgro because the benefits such as weight gain and profit increase outweighs the costs of not using it due to ethical reasons and loss of European