How are cattle sold?
Roughly half of the cattle in the TCFA area are sold on a live weight basis, where packer buyers visit the yard and negotiate a cash price for the cattle. The remainder are sold through formula pricing, grid pricing or forward contract. When a manager feels a pen of cattle is ready to sell, he puts them on his showlist. The manager will either negotiate a cash price or market the cattle through formula pricing or on a packer grid. When cattle are sold, the packer must pay by the close of business on the next business day after ownership of the cattle is transferred.
