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The cattle ranch is a factory for the production of beef. The equipement necessary to produce the finished article consists of land, permanent impovements, machinery and equipment, bulls, breeding cows, horses, and such other livestock as sheep, hogs, and poultry in numbers considered necessary for efficient operation. Calves, heifers, yearlings, and two-year-old steers carried on the ranch are the raw product in the process of production. Heifers become a part of the required equipment at two years of age, as they replace aged cows. To keep the factory in operation requires managerial servicces, labor, administration expense, and the consumption of a wide variety of expendable parts and supplies. 
With the settlement of the country and the dpassing of year-long forage on the open range, cattlemen have been compelled to grow an ever-increasing percentage of their own forage, which is pastured and hand fed. the march of progress, competition, changing conditions, and economic factors have forced them to acquire, fence, improve and operate more land. Therefore a heavier investment per unit is required in land, machinery, equipment, and in a better grade of cattle. With this added investment comes an increased cost in taxes, depreciation, and other overhead charges.