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(Washington, D.C., October 20, 2026) —Today, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced an update to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service’s (AMS) Livestock Mandatory Reporting (LMR) cash cattle reports as part of the Department’s broader effort to implement two of President Trump’s Executive Orders on “Supporting American Ranchers” and “Promoting Fair Competition in Livestock Markets and Expanding Market Access for American Meat Producers” to bring greater transparency to cattle market cash reporting.
“President Trump tasked our agency with bringing clarity and consistency to cattle markets and protecting rancher viability, and today's action is one of several steps we are taking to deliver on that promise,” said Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins. “Maintaining reliable and transparent price information is critical to a well-functioning cattle market. We are making these changes to address those challenges and make the best use possible of the market information that AMS gathers.”
Negotiated cash cattle trade has declined significantly as cattle industry procurement practices have shifted toward formula-based purchasing methods. Cash purchases accounted for more than 50 percent of transactions in 2005 but fell to less than 18 percent in 2025. Because cash purchases serve as the basis for many formula transactions, the decline in negotiated trade has reduced the number of reportable transactions and created confidentiality challenges that can limit the usefulness of existing price reports. This update supports USDA’s cattle and beef-market transparency objectives by providing producers, livestock sellers, packers, and other market participants with more meaningful information about negotiated cash cattle prices.
Beginning with the afternoon reports published on Monday, October 26, 2026, AMS will use data already collected through the LMR system to create an additional cash cattle regional report aggregating data from Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas. This does not require any additional reporting from covered packers.
For additional information about market information published by AMS, visit https://www.ams.usda.gov/market-news/livestock-poultry-grain#Cattle or download the USDA Market News app. There are both iOS and Android versions available to download through the Apple and Google Play stores.
For a broader suite of actions USDA is taking, visit the Ranchers First page at https://www.usda.gov/ranchers-first.
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