TY - JOUR AU - Blank, Steven C. AU - Boriss, Hayley AU - Forero, Larry C. AU - Nader, Glenn A. TI - Western cattle prices vary across video markets and value-adding programs JF - California Agriculture JO - Calif Agr Y1 - 2006/07/01 VL - 60 IS - 3 SP - 160 EP - 165 PB - University of California Agriculture and Nature Resources SN - 0008-0845 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.3733/ca.v060n03p160 L3 - 10.3733/ca.v060n03p160 AB - We analyzed video auction sales in the western United States from 1997 to 2003, in an attempt to answer two long-standing questions about the economics of cattle ranching in California. First, as expected, ranchers received lower prices for cattle sold here compared to prices received by ranchers in the Midwest; this is due to the cost of transporting cattle to Midwestern feedlots. Second, some (but not all) “value-adding” production and marketing practices — such as preconditioning, Quality Assurance Programs and natural beef production — did raise prices received by ranchers. We report on the average location discounts and quality premiums for several market regions.