Answer:
A) increase, and total consumer spending on beef will decrease.
Step-by-step explanation:
A decrease in the population of dairy cows and beef cattle, will result in a leftward shift of the supply curves for both milk and beef. A leftward shift will result in an increase in price at every quantity demanded.
Since the demand for milk is inelastic, a steep increase in price will result in a smaller decrease in quantity demanded. Since the demand for beef is elastic, a steep increase in price will result in a larger decrease in quantity demanded.
Since the demand for milk is inelastic, an increase in price will result in an increase in total spending. On the other hand, since demand for beef is elastic, an increase in price will result in a decrease in total spending.