Change strengthens fed cattle settlement data collection

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.