USDA Livestock Mandatory Reporting (LMR)
Example: a distributor pushes a beef price increase and blames "the packers," but USDA LMR shows the boxed-beef cutout packers actually charged held flat that week — a public, citable read that the move may be the distributor's, not the market's.
mandatory packer price reporting to USDA
A USDA program under which meat packers are legally required to report their cattle, hog, and sheep purchase prices — and their boxed-beef and boxed-pork cutout values — to the government. Because nearly every large packer must report, the data is close to a census of the market rather than a survey of a sample, which is exactly what makes it hard to spin. It is public, free, and published on a fixed schedule.
Why it matters
The price comes from a legal filing, not a phone call — the packers buying the cattle and selling the beef are the ones required to report, so no one along the chain gets to shade the number to their advantage. That is why the Cost Index uses USDA LMR as its primary wholesale source for proteins (beef and pork): when a vendor says meat is up, this is the public read of what packers actually paid and charged.
Frequently asked
What is USDA Livestock Mandatory Reporting (LMR)?
LMR is a USDA program under which meat packers are legally required to report their cattle, hog, and sheep purchase prices — and their boxed-beef and boxed-pork cutout values — to the government. Because nearly every large packer must report, the data is close to a census of the market rather than a survey of a sample, which is what makes it hard to spin. Everything it publishes is public, free, and released on a fixed schedule.
Why is mandatory reporting harder to spin than a survey?
The price comes from a legal filing, not a phone call. The packers buying the cattle and selling the beef are the ones required to report, so no single participant along the chain gets to shade the number to their advantage. A survey samples whoever answers; a mandatory program is close to the whole market by law.
How does the Muntin Cost Index use USDA LMR?
The Cost Index uses USDA LMR as its primary wholesale source for proteins — beef and pork. When a vendor says meat is up, LMR is the public read of what packers actually paid for livestock and charged for the cutout, so the index can show the real wholesale level rather than taking the vendor's word for it.
- BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) — the U.S. price, wage & jobs statistics agency
- USDA Market News — USDA’s public market-price reports
- USDA Dairy Product Sales Report (NDPSR) — the weekly U.S. dairy price benchmark
- FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) — the public front door to U.S. economic data
- EIA (U.S. Energy Information Administration) — the U.S. federal energy-statistics agency
- NOAA Fisheries — the U.S. ocean-fisheries & landings agency
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