Superior Livestock Auction's Fed Cattle Exchange held its first live feeder cattle auction Wednesday. The online sale featured around 2,000 head of feeder cattle consigned from across the country. The goal of the sale was to increase the frequency, transparency and depth of the negotiated trade.

Ed Greiman, chairman of National Cattlemen’s Beef Assn.’s Cattle Marketing & International Trade Committee, said the first sale was a success.

"The good news of the sale is that they sold about 1,600 head of cattle," Greiman noted. "The better news is that a lot of people were watching, and that's what we wanted. This is all about price discovery and showing people that there is a cash market out there and there is cash trade. It's adding to the fundamentals, and that's what we wanted."

Grieman said this is the first of what are planned to be weekly sales, and he expects the auctions to continue to grow with interest from feeders and packer buyers.

"What a lot of people need to understand is that this sale is not about selling cattle for more money; it's about giving us another avenue to sell cattle," Greiman said. "If we need more price discovery and the industry needs to see what fat cattle are bringing, this is one of the solutions. The best part of it is that this is a solution that was come up with by the (producers who) are selling the cattle."

Feedyards that want to offer cattle for sale may sign up for a license with FedCattleExchange.com at no cost to the feedyard.

Once the feedyard is approved as a user, cattle can be listed on the site at any time. The feedyard can choose the sale date for the cattle on any available dates offered by the exchange. The offering feedyard must have the show list entered each week by not later than Thursday at 3:00 pm (CT) in order to offer cattle for sale on the weekly auction.

A fee of $1.00 per head for use of the exchange platform will be charged to the listing feedyard by 10:00 a.m. (CT) each Friday in the form of an ACH transaction initiated by the exchange. The Fed Cattle Exchange reserves the right to cancel the sale of listed cattle if the license fee is not received by the published deadline.

Potential buyers wishing to procure cattle on an auction day must first register for a user account with the exchange, which will provide registrants with a user agreement and a privacy policy.

The exchange will also require an incumbency certificate from the buyer that will provide evidence of authority to buy. User agreements will be active through Dec. 31, 2017, but will automatically renew for a two- year period unless terminated in writing. The exchange or the user may terminate the agreement at any time with written notice.

Show lists will be made available on the Fed Cattle Exchange website at 8:00 am (CT) on each Friday, and buyers will be notified by electronic communication of the availability of the show lists. Buyers wanting to visually inspect cattle or ask questions about a listing may contact the listing feedyard at any time before the scheduled auction to obtain additional information.

The exchange will generate a seller and buyer trade confirmation at the conclusion of each regional sale that will be automatically sent to each listing feedyard and each buyer via email. If there are any discrepancies on the seller or buyer trade confirmations, the listing feedyard and the buyer must be in contact with each other as soon as possible after the conclusion of the sale. Both sellers and buyers must reply by email to the exchange by the end of the business on sale day with an acceptance of the confirmations.

The live sale and more information can be found at www.FedCattleExchange.com.