Development and Use of a Stocker Cattle Market Workshop in Extension Ranch Management Programming

This article describes the development of a workshop designed to familiarize cow-calf producers with price risk management techniques. The workshop is built around the cash markets, forward cash contracts, and stocker cattle futures and options introduced by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Participants are exposed to concepts such as setting price targets for calves, estimating basis levels, and taking advantage of seasonal and cyclical price patterns.