Prices for Choice and Select grade fed cattle are derived from wholesale and retail beef markets. Choice-Select price discounts are a key component of fed cattle pricing, whether packers purchase fed cattle on a live weight, dressed weight, or grid. This study identifies supply, demand, and...

Reduced reliance on cash market prices for fed cattle and hogs raise questions about the role of cash prices in price discovery. We use seven years of weekly data from mandatory price reports to determine whether or not cash market prices are cointegrated with other procurement prices and then...

Replaced with revised version of paper 06/04/09.

Factors influencing the profitability of retaining and feeding cull cows beyond culling were investigated. First, a price response function is estimated using 19 years of monthly price data as reported by Agricultural Market Services (AMS). Net returns are then estimated using data from a three...

Replaced with revised version of paper 09/01/09.

Motives for grid pricing of fed cattle have been identified in previous research. Also, estimates of grid pricing exist from feedlot surveys and data generated via mandatory price reports since 2001. However, no research has attempted to estimate factors influencing the extent of grid pricing by...

Seldom are observed losing bids available in industry data. A special workshop of the Fed Cattle Market Simulator was designed to capture bids for each pen of cattle traded. Data enabled identifying buyer and seller behavior in the price discovery process, both before and after imposed mergers...

Previous research has estimated price effects of meat packing plant closings and openings. However, none have been done for plants opening or closing during the last 20 years ago when concentration in meatpacking increased rapidly. Plant openings and closings affect industry slaughtering...

Objectives were twofold: Determine key factors influencing preconditioning cost and returns; and determine the premium for age and source verified, preconditioned calves sold at a public livestock market. Data provided by the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation show preconditioning returns depend...