Year 1 – What will you grow?
For simulation year 1, you will decide what to produce on your farm/ranch. You have three choices:
- All Cattle
- All Wheat
- Both Cattle and Wheat
In the game, cattle production is more risky and more rewarding than wheat production. As shown in the table below, you can make more money with cattle, you can lose more money with cattle.
The average production and prices numbers, shown in blue, are important points of reference.
- On average, you wean and sell 450 pound calves, and you receive $1.00/pound for those calves. In great years, your production and prices could be much greater; however, in bad years, the opposite is true.
- For wheat, in an average year, you will produce 55 bushels per acre and receive $4.75/bushel for your wheat. In great years you might see very high production and price numbers; but, in bad years you could face very low production and price numbers.
Remember, you could diversify and produce both cattle and wheat. The table below shows your expected profitability across the three options.
Please look over the numbers and make your decision. When you move to the next topic, you will input your decision and find out how you did in year 1.