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Iowa Cattlemen seek better transparency in cattle markets

Cattle producers continue to call for more market transparency.

Concerns about price discovery in cattle markets were magnified following the Tyson beef packing plant fire in Kansas two months ago.

Iowa Cattlemen’s Association CEO Matt Deppe says it’s an important issue for Iowa cattle producers.

“Several years back the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association really focused in on negotiated trades. Take a state like Iowa (where) 50 percent or better of the cattle marketings on the fed side are negotiated, and those types of trades are very transparent.”

He tells Brownfield the Association’s feedlot council is actively working on finding ways to improve the live cattle market.

“Connected to that is some of the functionality of a more historic report in that of market reporting. So how do we better show where price is a bit more readily throughout the week (and) throughout the Beef Belt moving forward?”

Deppe says the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association has put together a series of meetings to discuss current market conditions.

The first meeting is tonight at the ICA office in Ames, with several stops across Iowa planned through October 28^th.