Agricultural News
Fed Cattle Exchange Offers New Opportunity to Explore Price Discovery in Today's Changing Market
Fri, 15 Dec 2017 10:13:56 CST
It was a concept talked about for a long time in the beef industry - an auction platform for fed cattle. Superior Livestock and the National Livestock Credit Commission came together to make that idea a reality in recent years, creating FedCattleExchange.com. Robert York, CEO of National Livestock spoke with Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays about why this concept is so exciting and the value it brings to producers in these changing times.
"All we want to do is make a difference when it comes to transparency, the timing of those sales and how they're reported," York explained. "We started out with a tremendous fall about a year ago. Numbers were really growing and we were very excited about it."
Today, York admits the numbers aren't quite where he would hope but says the online auction platform is still performing profitably even with lower than preferred numbers. York says he can't point to a specific reason why there aren't more participating on the site, but believes it is partially due to a slow adoption rate in the industry. He says it is understandable that people want the most for their cattle and therefor try to privately broker better deals. Unfortunately, though he says that practice comes at the detriment to producers hemmed in by less opportunity for price discovery - the real purpose behind the website.
"There is a need for change," York remarked. "When you see as many cattle as we see going other ways than negotiated trade - we have to know that eventually we've got to find a way for price discovery to replace the lack of those negotiated trades. I tell people all the time, we don't make the market; we don't set the market; but we do our best every day to help you find out what the market is."
Listen to York and Hays discuss the changing times in the marketplace and how the Fed Cattle Exchange offers a new avenue for price discovery, on today's Beef Buzz.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
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