Transaction Costs and Cattle Marketing: The Information Content of Seller-Provided Presale Data at Bull Auctions

At sales of breeding bulls, prospective buyers have strong incentives to undertake presale measurement activities. To reduce these transaction costs, sellers often provide information on sale bulls. We examine the information content of two measures of the expected performance of the bulls and find that within a given herd, older, simpler measures of performance contain more information about prices (from buyers' perspectives) than newer, more sophisticated measures known as expected progeny differences, or EPDs. We also find, however, that buyers appear to pay considerable attention to annual changes in herd-average EPD values when comparing animals from different sellers.     

Price-Weight Relationships for Feeder Cattle

Feeder cattle prices are determined by the interaction of numerous factors. As economic conditions change over time, price differentials associated with feeder cattle weight vary. This study analyzes transactions data on 46,081 pens of feeder cattle over a 10‐year period. Results indicate that fed‐cattle futures prices and corn prices are important determinants of price‐weight relationships for feeder cattle. Time of year, recent feeding margins and sex of feeder cattle have moderate impacts on the price‐weight relationship (i.e., price slides). Coefficients of variation for fed cattle and corn prices have economically unimportant impacts on price relationships. Results of this model can be used to assess feeder cattle price relationships across weights as fed cattle and corn prices vary. Les prix des bovins d'engraissement sont fonction de I'interaction de nombreux facteurs. Au fil des changements des conditions économiques, les écarts de prix associés au poids des bovins varient. Nous étudions les données de transactions réalisées dans une période de 10 ans sur 46 081 parquets de bovins d'engraissement. II ressort de ce travail que les prix è terme des bovins finis et le prix du maïs sont d'importants déterminants des rapports prix‐poids pour ce type d'animaux. L'époque de I'année, les marges d'engraissement récentes et le type sexuel des bovins n'ont que des répercussions modérées sur le rapport prix‐poids (c.‐a‐d. I'écart de prix aux 100 Ib selon lepoids de I'animal). Les coefficients de variation relatifs aux prix des bovins finis et è ceux du maïs sont dénués de toute importance économique pour les rapports de prix. Les résultats du modèle peuvent être utilisés pour évaluer les rapports de prix des bovins d'engraissement selon une échelle de poids en fonction des variations des prix des bovins gras et de ceux du maïs.     

Spatial and Temporal Marketing Considerations under Marketing Loan Programs

Marketing assistance loan (MAL) and loan deficiency payment (LDP) programs differ in their treatment of transportation costs. Marketing decisions are analyzed under these programs when producers are differentiated by location with respect to the terminal market. Under certain conditions, a complete characterization of equilibrium is developed. The proposed model broadly fits several "stylized" facts about producer enrollment in these programs. If LDPs are uniform at all locations, LDP programs do not interfere with marketing decisions. MAL programs distort the optimal marketing pattern by providing incentives to store for producers who should be among the first ones to supply the market.     

Cattle Feeder Perceptions of Livestock Mandatory Price Reporting

Mandatory livestock price reporting was designed to increase available price information with the intent of facilitating price discovery. Has the program been effective? This study determines how cattle feeders, a primary target of the program, feel about mandatory price reporting (MPR) effectiveness. Results from a survey of cattle feeders reveal a diversity of opinion. Producers tend to be neutral to slightly negative regarding the value of MPR. Some of the dissatisfaction appears to have been associated with unrealistic expectations. Most feedlot characteristics have little systematic relationship to the manager's perceptions regarding usefulness of MPR.     

Bidding for Cattle in the Texas Panhandle

Four beef-processing plants in the Texas Panhandle region procure cattle from feedlots in a form of first-price, sealed-bid auction. These auctions have features that distinguish them from standard auctions. Using transactions-level data, we estimated packer bid functions and, via simulations, compared the extant bidding environment to an alternative framework. The simulated auctions on average produced higher seller revenue, more frequent sales to the plant valuing the cattle most highly, and more switching by feedlots among competing packers. We attribute these results to packers' inconsistent bidding on the available lots of cattle and offer alternative explanations for this behavior.     

Agricultural Marketing in France

French production is based on a large agricultural area with a large number of farmers. They work with co-operatives which are very near to them and collect their product. Protectionism has led to a disequilibrium with the economic system in this sector. Actual CAP's orientations and the increase in competition, has forced farmers and co-operatives to concentrate and restructure. The number of farmers has decreased while many co-operatives have started to process raw production materials. One goal of the food industry is to become more international. French food industry made a lot of acquisitions abroad but the increasing place of Italians in French companies also has to be noticed. Distribution plays an important role in agricultural marketing where 66% of food products are sold through about ten companies. This market structure allows them to have a favored position. However, it's a very dynamic sector which now faces some difficulties.     

Agricultural Marketing in Spain

The paper deals with the analysis of marketing in the Spanish agrofood sector. The methodology follows the industrial organization paradigm: structure, conduct and performance. It gives a first analysis of market environment, monetary fiscal policies, and consumer's demand. Market structure shows a dominance of minifundia at farmer and retail level. A concentration process is going on at wholesale and industrial level. Conduct and performance of agrofood marketing are being studied, with special attention to competitiveness and rice evolution. Finally some observations are made on marketing characteristics in some of the traditional food sectors.     

Estimated Value of Increased Pricing Accuracy for Fed Cattle

To improve vertical market coordination beef packers have introduced fed cattle grid pricing systems that offer premiums or discounts for varying carcass quality and yield grades. This study calculates the value of cattle quality information for producers considering live, dressed, and grid pricing alternatives. The value of fed cattle quality and yield grade information is at least $15/head. When fed cattle are sold on a live weight basis, high-quality cattle subsidize low-quality cattle by an average of $30/head. Price signals that could improve beef market coordination are ignored when fed cattle are marketed using traditional live or dressed weight methods.     

Alternative Methods of Marketing Livestock1

This paper attempts to establish a set of criteria, against which current or potential livestock marketing systems can be evaluated. The approach is straightforward, and the concepts are not profound. The author attempts to simplify current marketing efficiency requirements and to blend these economic criteria with the systems approach to marketing that is presently being developed in the business schools. QUELQUES SOLUTIONS CONCERNANT LA COMMERCIALISATION DU BETAIL – Le présent mémoire essaie d‘établir un ensemble de critères selon lesquels les systèmes présents et futurs de mise en marche“ des bestiaux peuvent être évalues. L'approche est directe et les concepts ne sont pas fouillés. L'auteur essaie de simplifier les besoins courants d'une mise en marché efficace et de relier ces entères économiques à l'approche systématique de la mise en marché qu'on élabore présentement dans les écoles commerciales.     

Marketing of Crop Products in Poland

The paper examines the hitherto existing institutions and workings of the crop product marketing system in Poland, and shows the nature, direction and scope of the changes the system is undergoing currently, as a result of the decentralization, demonopolization and privatization endeavours. The succeeding stages of: (a) farm production, (b) processing, (c) distribution and (d) consumption of crops products are explored, and the recent changes in each of this stages discussed. It is hoped that the general picture of the crop product marketing system given in the paper will help non-Polish readers better understand both the challenges and opportunities created in this sphere by the recent political and economic transformation of Poland.     

Social Costs of Supply-Restricting Marketing Boards

This article uses the concepts of economic surplus to assess the transfer and social cost effects of the national supply management programs for poultry products. The focus is on analytical and methodological issues and problems of identifying and quantifying these effects. It is apparent that different estimating methods and assumptions lead to considerable differences in the social cost estimates. Nonetheless, short-run losses in allocative efficiency are relatively minor compared to the transfer effects. However, the potential long-run losses in efficiency are substantial.
Cet article utilise les concepts de surplus économiques pour évaluer les effets de transfert et de coúts sociaux dans les programmes hationaux de gestion de I'approvisionnement en volailles. Nous porterons notre attention sur les questions analytiques et méthodologiques et sur les problémes d'identification et de quantification de ces effets. II est évident que des méthoaes devaluation et des hypothéses différentes entraínent des differences considé fOlOrables dans Vestimation des coÜts sociaux. Pourtant, lespertes à court terme dues à une mauvaise distribution sont relativement minimes par rapport aux effets de transfert. Mais les pertes à long terme, pertes potentielles en efficacité sont substantielles.     

Strategic Marketing in International Agribusiness

No abstract available for this article.     

Small-Ruminant Marketing in Southwest Nigeria

This paper describes the structure of the small-ruminant trade in southwest Nigeria, analyses the factors determining the price of animals, and examines the relationship of prices between markets. Animals imported from the north dominate the sheep and goat trades, and supply and prices are highly seasonal. However, multiple regression shows animal prices to be largely predictable in terms of the characteristics of the animal (breed, sex and live-weight) and the market in which it is sold (location and month of sale). Prices are relatively closely correlated between markets over time, and price relationships between markets reflect the respective structures of the trade in northern and southern animals. Price margins between markets reflect the level of traders' commission and storage costs in addition to the direct costs of transport. The study concludes that there is no evidence for market inefficiency or segregation, and that there is considerable market potential for increased local production of sheep and goats. In policy terms, the market's efficiency implies that government involvement beyond its present, limited facilitative role would not be justified.