Cattle on Feed (COF) reports are an important source of beef supply information. This study investigates whether COF report revisions are unbiased, random, and anticipated. Initial COF reports are biased, but the bias is economically small. Revisions to COF estimates are not random. Market...

Contagious animal diseases like foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) are often referred to as economic diseases because of the magnitude of economic harm they can cause to producers and to local communities. This study demonstrates the local economic impact of a hypothetical FMD outbreak in southwest...

Debates about captive supplies have been ongoing for more than a decade. This study investigates the effects captive supplies have on the beef farm-to-wholesale marketing margin. A relative price spread (RPS) model is used to estimate beef farm-to-wholesale marketing margins. Estimates indicate...

Live cattle futures markets do not offer much opportunity for effective hedging of wholesale beef cuts. If a Choice-to-Select price spread futures contract were introduced this would enhance hedging effectiveness although likely not enough to encourage cross hedging. If a Choice boxed beef...

Beef carcasses, carcass premiums, carcass discounts, and grain prices are simulated. Random carcasses are priced according to random sets of market conditions defining a distribution of total and net revenues. Sensitivity analysis is performed to determine the total effect on revenue and net...

Feeder cattle price-weight slides are analyzed using transactions data on 46,123 pens of feeder cattle over a 10-year period. Fed cattle futures prices and corn prices are important determinants of price-weight slides. Cattle producers can use this information when making sell timing decision,...