Value-Based Marketing: A Dsicussion of Issues and Trends in the Slaughter Cattle Market

Pricing and technological innovation are discussed within the context of the beef industry’s value-based marketing initiative. Cash and contract marketing practices for fed cattle are addressed with respect to slaughter volume and pricing methods (live, dressed, and grid). A methodology for estimating grid market share of weekly slaughter volume, based on USDA market reports (2004–2009), is introduced. Weekly grid market shares for the cash and contract markets are derived. Summary statistics indicate that grid pricing has become an important pricing mechanism, but has not surpassed average pricing with respect to slaughter volume market share.