Source-verified (SV) feeder cattle auctions were held in Bloomfield, Iowa, each October, November, and December from 1997-2000. This study compares price data from these SV auctions to traditional auctions at the same location to determine whether a premium exists for SV feeder cattle. Hedonic...

Information on prices and price risk differences across marketing arrangements aids fed cattle producers in making choices about marketing methods. As part of the congressionally mandated Livestock and Meat Marketing Study, we investigated fed cattle price and price risk differences across...

Canada implemented a national cattle identification system, led and developed by the industry. Initially a voluntary program beginning in July 2001, it became mandatory in July 2002 and achieved 92-95 percent compliance by that fall. The costs to develop and initiate the system were low; animals...

Australia and New Zealand are major beef producing countries and major beef exporters. Unlike the case in the United States, where less than 10 percent of beef is exported, approximately 60 percent of Australia's and 85 percent of New Zealand's beef production is exported. Because of their...

In addition to horizontal consolidation at the input, production, and processing subsectors, the US pork industry is becoming more vertically aligned. The largest hog producers and pork processors were surveyed regarding their involvement in vertical coordination arrangements and their plans for...

A survey of Iowa farmers who quit raising hogs between 1991-1997 quantified the demographics of the enterprises and operators, motivations for leaving, and prospects for re-entering hog production. The median enterprise size was 500 head marketed a year, yet hogs accounted for 40% of farm...

Ultrasound technology is available for accurately measuring intramuscular fat (IMF) in live pigs. This report provides information on the costs for pig producers and processors to implement this technology and what consumers are willing to pay for pork with improved levels of intramuscular fat....