Effects of selected variables on prices received for calves in the Crossville Demonstrational Feeder Calf Sales

Records of 1,221 lots of Angus and Hereford steers and heifers sold in the Crossville Demonstrational Feeder Calf Sales held each fall from 1952 through 1969, inclusive, were studied to determine the effects of grade, sex, pen size and the average weight per pen on the price received per hundredweight and on the price received per head for feeder calves. Choice calves sold for an average of $2.68 per hundredweight more than calves of the medium grade. The choice calves also sold for an average of $0.73 per hundredweight more than calves in the good grade. Medium calves sold for an average of $1.95 less per hundredweight than good calves. Choice calves sold for $12.14 more per head than the medium grade calves. The choice calves sold also for $3.75 more per head than those calves grading good. Medium calves sold for an average of $8.39 less per head than calves grading good. Steer calves sold for significantly (P < .01) higher prices than did heifer calves. Steer calves, on the average, sold for $3.55 more per hundredweight and $15.49 more per head than did heifers of a comparable grade. These data indicate that calves in pen sizes of 91 or more sold for more per head than did calves in any other pen size group. When the price received per hundredweight was regressed on the average weight per pen, all other sources of variation held constant; these data indicate that as average weight per pen increased, the price per hundredweight decreased. When the price received per head was regressed on the average weight per pen, within the range of the data, as average weight per pen increased, so did the average price received per head. The estimates of these parameters indicate that factors affecting the price received for feeder calves in the Crossville Demonstrational Feeder Calf Sale are similar to those described in other studies involving feeder calf sale data in the Southeast.