Change strengthens fed cattle settlement data collection

Apr 21, 2023

As of April 1, the LPI-Fed settlement index will not include any cash prices that are outside +/- 5% of the average weekly mean. Previously, the LPI-Fed settlement index did not include any cash prices that were $4/CWT above or below the average weekly mean.

Producers will continue to settle policies as usual. The data collected for calculating the settlement index is not affected by this change, only the analysis of data to include in our index.

In rare cases, the $4/cwt rule caused settlement blackout weeks. For example, in late 2022, the LPI-Fed settlement index excluded a larger-than-usual number of outliers (31 per cent within four out of five weeks) and the $4/cwt rule resulted in a blackout week. If the +/-5% rule had been in place, a blackout week would not have been necessary.

Click here to see more...

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.