USDA Spokesman Outlines Lamb,
Sheep Mandatory Report Rules

AMARILLO — The reports that USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service will begin generating in April under the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act include slaughter cattle, boxed beef, slaughter swine, slaughter sheep, boxed lamb and lamb carcasses.

With regard to sheep and lambs, plants slaughtering 75,000 head per year are required to report sales transactions, both domestic and imports.

John Van Dyke, the chief of USDA's Livestock and Grain Marketing News, says that covers about 17 of 561 packing plants that slaughter sheep.

For sheep, slaughter plants must report daily by 2 p.m., central time; weekly by 9 a.m. the first day of the week, and weekly by 9 a.m. the second day of the week.

Lamb cuts and carcasses have to be reported daily by 2:30 p.m. and 3 p.m.

Lamb importers bringing 5000 metric tons per year must report their transactions weekly by 10 a.m. the first day of the week.

Van Dyke says all purchases or sales made through negotiated trades, formula marketing arrangements and forward contracts must be reported.

"Negotiated transactions are those where the price is determined by buyer and seller agreement and are scheduled for delivery within 14 days," Van Dyke explains.

Formula marketing arrangements are defined as advance commitments for purchase or sale in which the price is determined at a future date.

Forward contracts, he says, are arrangements that define an advance agreement for purchase or sale in which a flat price or the base price is established by a reference to publicly available prices.

Information will be reported by lot, by sheep class and whether it is domestic or imported, Van Dyke says.

Prices in dollar per hundredweight, whether f.o.b. or delivered, are to be reported daily as is the type of purchase and quantity on live and dressed weight basis. A range and average of liveweights, percent Choice or better, premiums and discounts, state of origin, pelt type, estimated dressing percent, delivered and committed information, and terms of trade are also required daily.

Quantities purchased that were slaughtered and quantity, basis level and delivery month for lambs are to be reported in the weekly forward contract information for the prior week's slaughter. This information will be reported the second day of the week.

Also reported on the second day of the week are the formula marketing arrangements for the prior slaughter week. This includes quantities delivered that were slaughtered, weighted average price paid for a carcass including premiums and discounts, range and weighted average of premiums and discounts paid, range of prices paid and terms of trade.

Weekly premium and discount information will be reported on the first reporting day of the week for current slaughter, including weight, quality or yield grade.

Van Dyke says the number of head slaughtered, the carcass weight range, the average carcass weight, quality and yield grades and average dressing percentage will be reported on a weekly basis for packer-owned sheep.

He describes packer-owned sheep as sheep owned for at least 14 days prior to slaughter.

The lamb report will include daily negotiated price, daily committed and delivered numbers. There is also a weekly national lamb report with forward contract and formula numbers for both domestic and imported transactions, and lamb deliveries of previously committed lambs and prices paid to producers after application of premiums and discounts.

The weekly national lamb report includes head count, dressing percent, weight range, average weight, price range and average price.

The weekly premium and discount report for slaughter lambs covers adjustments, grade, cutability, weight and pelt. It will report the range, a simple average and change.

Concerning the lamb carcass report, the information is to be reported on a lot basis. A lot, Van Dyke says, is defined as a group of one or more lamb carcasses sharing a similar weight range category and comprising a single transaction between a buyer and seller.

Carlot trade is defined as a transaction between buyer and seller, consisting of one or more individual boxed items with three or fewer stops.

This, Van Dyke says, draws a distinction between a sales transaction and distribution. If all stops were taken into account, the cost of distribution would be included in the reported prices, thus skewing the prices.

The lamb carcass report includes the price per lot in dollars per hundredweight f.o.b. the plant and the number of carcasses. It also includes the type of sale, quality and yield grade, estimated carcass weight range and delivery period.

The boxed lamb report includes price per lot in dollars per hundredweight f.o.b. the plant and pounds per lot for each sale.

Van Dyke says a boxed lamb lot is defined as a group of one or more boxes of lamb items sharing cutting and trimming specifications and comprising a single transaction between a buyer and seller.

The character of the sale will include the type of sale, branded product characteristics and quality grade. The report also includes the cuts of lamb, the state of refrigeration, cut weight range and delivery period.

Branded products are those boxed lamb cuts produced and marketed under a corporate trademark that are marketed on attributes including quality, yield or breed characteristics or under USDA's certified lamb programs.

Van Dyke says packing plants are required to maintain records for two years. Those records should indicate the time of the purchases, at least whether it was before or after 2 p.m. each day.

The records should ensure the identity of the person submitting the information and may include proprietary business information. For that reason, parts of the information submitted to the government are confidential and will not be released publicly, Van Dyke says. This information is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.