Profit Maximizing Behavior On the Fed Cattle Grid: The Value of Pre-harvest and Genetic Sorting with Implications for Aggregate Supply

We simulate the growth and quality changes for pens of cattle and derive the value of pre-harvest sorting and genetic selection under grid pricing in a deterministic setting featuring animals with heterogeneous growth and quality maturation paths. The key findings are: 1) both pre-harvest sorting and increased genetic uniformity could substantially affect an individual cattle feeder's net revenues; 2) one could expect higher marginal revenue gains from the genetic uniformity than from pre-market sorting; 3) both methods exhibit diminishing marginal returns and 4) aggregate beef supply may increase as improving uniformity typically leads to later optimal marketing dates and, hence, heavier animals at slaughter.