A small dairy farm writes a business plan. It includes a graph showing the estimated amount of feed used each day in thousands of pounds, y, compared to the number of years since the farm began operating, x.

What does the y-intercept represent?
the estimated amount of years the farm can afford feed
the maximum feed per day estimated for the life of the farm
the estimated amount of feed per day for the start of the farm
the maximum years the farm needs the originally estimated feed per day