Profit maximization—does it matter?

Comparative hypotheses are statistically tested for a random sample of Texas producers who perceive themselves as profit maximizers and those who do not. Those who assert that they are in the cow—calf business primarily to maximize profits have on average larger herd sizes and acreage, they earn a greater percent of their total net income from farming and ranching, and they place more emphasis on supportive economic motivations and less on social reasons for owning cattle. Off-farm employment status and the qualitative response to changes in price expectations are not unambiguously related to perceived motivations.