AbstractAs a result of several judicial rulings, processing of horses for human consumption came to a halt in 2007. This article determines the change in horse prices resulting from elimination of horse-processing facilities. As expected, lower-valued horses were more affected by the ban than higher-valued horses. The analysis suggests the slaughter ban reduced horse prices, on average, by about 13% and resulted in a loss in producer surplus to sellers of approximately 14% at the sale we analyzed. We also show horse prices are affected by a myriad of factors including breed, gender, age, coat color, and sale catalog description.

The Oklahoma Quality Beef Network (OQBN) is a program, which began in 2001, and is sponsored by the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association. OQBN is a process verification and certification program for preconditioning calves. Preconditioning programs are designed to reduce stress from shipping calves at weaning, improve calves’ immune system, and boost performance in post-weaning production phases (stocker production and cattle feeding) and carcass performance (higher grading carcasses with fewer defects). Visit http://osuextra.okstate.edu/ for information on preconditioning, and also visit the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association Web site at http://www.okcattlemen.org/OQBN%20Home. htm for specific information on several aspects of the OQBN program. One frequently asked question regarding preconditioning and the OQBN in particular is whether or not buyers pay a premium for OQBN calves. This extension fact sheet reports on research at OSU to estimate price premiums for the first thee years of the OQBN program (Ratcliff).

The impact of initial body condition scores on net returns from retaining beef cull cows for delayed marketing was investigated in a three-year experiment. Cows were retained either on native grass pasture or in a low-input dry lot setting. Net returns are examined across five alternative marketing periods, including culling. Sensitivity of net returns to changes in retention cost is also examined. Although a native grass pasture system was generally more profitable than a low-input dry lot system, thin and medium cows were typically more profitable than cows with higher initial body condition score regardless of the feeding system.

The Packer-Feeder Game simulates the market competition between eight cattle producing firms (feedlots) and four cattle purchasing/meat processing firms (packers). The four packing plants must collectively negotiate the purchase of approximately forty pens of cattle from the eight feedlots during each iteration of a series of six to eight minute playing periods. Forecasting future market conditions and timing the sale of inventories of cattle in the feedlots to match packing plant capacities and changing market conditions are the key challenges of the game. Direct cash sales between packers and feedlots as well as contracting for future delivery and use of endogenous commodity futures contracts are permitted.

Cull cows are a revenue source that gets relatively little attention for cow-calf producers with respect to marketing strategy. This three-year study compares alternative marketing strategies with the traditional practice of marketing spring-calving cull cows in the fall immediately after weaning. Cull cows were randomly assigned to either a pasture or low-cost dry-lot feeding program. Results favor the lower cost, pasture-based feeding program with spring marketing over fall marketing. Low-cost maintenance coupled with seasonal increases in slaughter cow prices beyond culling combined to increase net returns for retaining and feeding cows on native pasture for about a three-month period.

Prices for Choice and Select grade fed cattle are derived from wholesale and retail beef markets. Choice-Select price discounts are a key component of fed cattle pricing, whether packers purchase fed cattle on a live weight, dressed weight, or grid. This study identifies supply, demand, and other factors affecting the Choice-Select discount series using an adaptive expectations model. It is found that the lagged value of the discount as well as the percentage grading Choice exert statistically significant influences on the discount, while neither the boxed beef price nor seasonality affect the discount.

Despite the existence of over 2.5 million Quarter Horses in the U.S., there has heretofore been little information available on the structural parameters underpinning the Quarter Horse market. In this paper, we compiled a unique data set, merging together information on registrations from the American Quarter Horse Association and price data from a large regional horse auction. The data is used to estimate the supply of yearling Quarter Horses using biological production lags to identify the key structural parameters; we find an own-price elasticity of short- and long-run supply of 0.32 and 0.27. An inverse demand function is also estimated, and after accounting for endogeneity, we find a price flexibility of own-price yearling demand of -0.71. Results reveal that demand shifted inward following the horse processing ban, resulting in deadweight annual losses of over $4 million in the yearling Quarter Horse market.

ABSTRACT Reduced reliance on cash markets for fed cattle and hogs raises questions about the role of cash prices in price discovery. Weekly data from mandatory price reports were used to determine whether cash market prices were cointegrated with and exhibited Granger causality with other procurement prices. Cash prices were cointegrated with all but one cattle and one hog procurement price series over the 2001–2010 period. Cash market prices Granger cause all other procurement prices and bidirectional causality was found in some but not all cases. Results for three 3‐year subperiods showed some decline in cointegration and causality for hogs. The cash market remains important for price discovery but continuing market thinness, especially in hogs, raises questions regarding viability of the cash market in the future.

Price differences among fed cattle prices in Canada and the United States (referred to here as fed cattle basis) are important for Canadian cattle feeders, but changing government regulations in Canada and the United States have made basis more variable. This article uses transaction data from Canadian feedlots to quantify fed cattle price differentials in light of new policy initiatives. Using transaction prices, we find that differing slaughter regulations, labeling laws, and policies affecting access to U.S. markets for Canadian cattle affect fed cattle basis.

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) can cause significant economic losses for cattle producers. This research assessed the economic effects of BRD in backgrounding and finishing phases with assessment of calves based on serum haptoglobin (Hp). Crossbred heifers with expected high risk of BRD (n = 337) were assembled at a Kentucky order buyer facility and delivered to Stillwater, Oklahoma, in September 2007. Heifers were assigned to pens according to arrival Hp concentration: low (serum Hp <1.0 μg/mL), medium (1.0 μg/mL < serum Hp < 3.0 μg/mL), and high (serum Hp >3.0 μg/mL). The heifers were monitored daily for signs of BRD during a 63-d backgrounding phase. After backgrounding, initial serum Hp was disregarded and heifers (n = 193) were allocated to finishing pens (5 to 7 heifers per pen) according to number of BRD treatments received: never treated (0X; n = 54), treated once (1X; n = 54), treated twice (2X; n = 34), treated 3 times (3X; n = 39), and chronically ill (CX; n = 12). Because of the limited number of pens available for the finishing phase, only 54 heifers each from the 0X and 1X categories were randomly selected for inclusion in the finishing phase. Arrival haptoglobin concentration had no significant effect on net returns (P ≥ 0.50) and was not different across number of BRD treatments (P ≥ 0.11). However, net returns decreased in the backgrounding phase (P < 0.001) and the combined backgrounding and finishing phases (P = 0.001) as number of BRD treatments increased. On average, the 0X, 1X, 2X, and 3X groups had $111.12, $92.51, $59.98, and $20.62, respectively, greater net returns than CX (P < 0.001) during backgrounding. When combining backgrounding and finishing phases, the 3X and CX groups lost $72.01 and $143.20 more than the 0X group (P ≤ 0.03).

Abstract Federal budgetary pressures raise questions regarding the importance of public market information. This study assesses the impact on price discovery and marketing efficiency from reductions in the availability of public information. The amount and type of information provide to Fed Cattle Market Simulator participants was varied according to a predetermined experimental design. Reduced information decreased the quality of price discovery decisions and led to increased price variance. Marketing efficiency was decreased also. With reduced information, more cattle were delivered at weights deviating from 1150 pounds -- the least-cost marketing weight in the simulator. Key Words: efficiency, experimental economics, fed cattle, price discovery, public information Public Information Impacts on Price Discovery and Marketing Efficiency in the Fed Cattle Market Information, through its impact on the expectations of market participants, plays a critical role in price discovery. In agricultural markets, much of the information available to decision- makers is collected and disseminated by government agencies. Reductions in the amount of government-provided information have occurred throughout the 1980s and 1990s and continue to be considered as government agencies look for ways to cut their budgets in the ongoing effort to reduce federal spending. If public resources are to be efficiently allocated, it is vital to know the potential impact of such reductions on the affected markets. The fed cattle market -- like most agricultural markets -- receives considerable information through

Congress passed into law the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act in 1999 and a mandatory pricing reporting system for livestock and meat began in 2001. The implementation was problematic. It is also difficult to find any research prior to the legislation that demonstrated inadequacies in the voluntary price reporting system that had been in existence since the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946. Thus, there is little evidence upon which to evaluate the new system. Available research suggests mandatory price reporting increased transparency and information at the national level and across cash and non-cash market choices, reduced price information in regional markets, and increased spatial and vertical market integration. Research shows diverse opinions on the success of the new system. Research also shows the potential for retail meat scanner data to significantly improve the accuracy of reported retail meat prices. Related research suggests clear benefits of the new system will be hard to measure. A primary conclusion from the literature is that benefits were unforeseen and unintended consequences were large. And that continued cost/benefit oriented research of the policy and legislation would be useful.

A total of 395 calves (180 ± 25 kg) were purchased from sale barns in Oklahoma and Texas in the fall of 3 consecutive years to measure the effect of USDA feeder cattle frame and muscle grades on performance and profitability. Individual purchase weight and price were recorded, and steers were assigned USDA feeder cattle grades of Large (LG), Medium (MED), or Small (SM) frame size and Number 1 or Number 2 muscle thickness by the same official USDA market graders. Steers were grazed on rye pasture and were then valued by commercial order buyers in frame and muscle grade groups. Muscle grade did not affect (P > 0.60) animal performance or profitability during the grazing phase. Grazing ADG increased linearly (P < 0.001) as frame grade increased, but purchase price was lower (P < 0.001) for SM steers than for MED and LG frame steers, respectively, resulting in greater (P < 0.001) grazing-phase net returns for SM steers. Following finishing on a high-concentrate diet, the lesser total weight gain during finishing of SM steers (P < 0.001) resulted in lesser per animal revenue. Feed and interest costs were also less (P < 0.001) and marbling score greater (P < 0.001) for SM steers, resulting in greater finishing net returns and carcass price. In a post hoc analysis in which frame and muscle grades were reassigned to cattle based on HCW and LM area, only 44% of the cattle remained in their original grade.

Factors influencing the profitability of retaining and feeding cull cows beyond culling were investigated. First, a price response function is estimated using 19 years of monthly price data as reported by Agricultural Market Services (AMS). Net returns are then estimated using data from a three year cull cow feeding experiment conducted at The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation and used to examine the relative effect of various factors on net returns. Results showed the importance of average daily gain increases across feeding periods while feeding system is also an important contributing factor to net returns.