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D-production-cycle Dictionary

Production Cycle

The time from the start of an enterprise, planting or breeding, to the first sale, during which capital is tied up

All termsIntroduced in M9Open the Toolkit
An open dictionary on a farm office desk
Plain meaning
The time from the start of an enterprise, planting or breeding, to the first sale, during which capital is tied up
How to use it
Read the production calendar in your Major and fund the whole cycle, not just the first month.
South African benchmark
A broiler batch takes about six weeks; a beef animal two to three years; a fruit orchard several years to first crop.
Country notes
The same biology runs in every local market; what changes is how long it takes to reach a buyer and be paid.
Go and read
Every Major, Unit 7
Calculate it
T-C-04 Twelve-Month Cash Flow shows the cost of carrying the cycle.
Library sources
LIB-A059
See also
Working capital, Payback period
Beef: the product, the five stages of the business, the unit it is sold by and where it is producedBeef: how the business runsSold bykg live weight or carcass weight1Breed2Wean3Background on veld4Finish5Abattoir: carcass weightZAZWZMBWNAProduces commerciallyImports most needsZA South Africa, ZW Zimbabwe, ZM Zambia, BW Botswana, NA Namibia
From the Beef Major, where this term is introduced.

Introduced in M9 Beef.