A long standing joke by cattle feeders when asked what kind of
cattle they like to feed is to respond, “the kind that can walk
up to the feedbunk.”  In the days of yore, when everything was
sold on averages in the cash market, that answer wasn't really a
joke. With a few exceptions, it was pretty much standard
operating procedure.  That was then; this is now. And now, with
about half the fed cattle sold on a grid, a formula, through an
alliance or some other form of marketing channel designed to
more accurately reward value, cattle feeders are a little more
aware of the role that genetics play in downstream
profitability.  Mind you, they'll still feed about anything that
can walk off the truck and find its way to the feedbunk. But, as
Tom Brink says, extracting value out of those kinds of cattle is
much more challenging than it used to be.  Brink is the senior
vice president and chief risk officer of Five Rivers Cattle
Feeding, the world's largest cattle-feeding enterprise with a
combined feeding capacity of