Computerized decision-making model for the beef/forage enterprise

This decision-making model was designed with sufficient flexibility to allow analysis of a multitude of alternative farm situations. The solutions rendered by the model are sensitive to farm situations which often vary with respect to available resources, managerial abilities, and price and production expectations. Some major issues that were considered in developing this model were: (1) the goals of the farm business, (2) the appropriate length of planning period, (3) growth and capital investment, (4) indivisibility of investment projects, (5) discounting for risk and time, (6) technological change, (7) variability of price and production coefficients, (8) relevant production processes, and (9) possible constraints on the beef/forage enterprise. A format was developed to gather the information unique to each farm situation. This information flows into a computer routine that transforms, generates, and arranges the data into a format suitable for the problem-solving algorithm. The resultant answers are then transformed and arranged into a format that is self-decipherable to the farm audience.