Two beef cattle production traits that affect performance are frame size and muscle thickness. Buyers pay premiums or discounts for feeder cattle with different frame and muscling. Do prices accurately reflect performance? What effect do frame and muscling have on profitability? Performance...

Preconditioning is not new but has received considerable attention in recent years. This research addresses two questions. Are buyers of preconditioned feeder calves paying a price premium close to the performance benefits expected from preconditioning? Is there information asymmetry in the...

Producers, researchers, and policy makers have an interest in market effects from meatpacking plant closings and openings. This paper presents results from a study taking a dual approach to determining impacts from an anticipated hog slaughtering plant opening and an unexpected fed cattle...

Carcass discounts are an important component of grid pricing of fed cattle. Yet, little effort has been made to model the behavior of the primary carcass discounts that vary over time. This paper presents alternative models of the Choice-Select and yield grade 3-4/5 discounts. Besides noting the...

Preferential pricing was one of several concerns leading to mandatory price reporting. Seven years of “new” data from mandatory reports are examined to determine if evidence exists of preferential pricing by packers for fed cattle and slaughter hogs. Weekly data show some alternative...

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...