The use of non-cash methods of procuring fed cattle for slaughter has led to concern about the effect of these so-called “captive” supplies on cash market prices. Some empirical evidence suggests that there is a negative short-run relationship between the two: Cash market prices tend to be...

Numerous articles in the agricultural economics literature investigate the empirical relationship between the spot market price of fed cattle and the volume of packers' precommitted, or “captive,” supplies of cattle. In this article, we use an extensive data set on the cattle procurement...