One of goals, then, of any profit maximizing farmer is reducing this unproduc- tive production time. Increasing the efficiency and thus productivity of, for example, a dairy cow increases the number of milkin a dairy farmer performs in a day and therefore reduces the idle time of their milking parlor and milking equipment. Other ways to reduce this unproductive production time is to hire someone and their equipment(known as"custom work") for a specific task to avoid having to purchase for oneself an expensive piece of equipment that is only used a handful of times a year.