摘要：This research examines returns to cattle feeding operations that sort animals prior to marketing usingultrasound technology. The returns to sorting are between $11 and $25 per head depending on thenumber of groups the pens into which cattle can be sorted. Sorting faces declining returns. These returnscan also be viewed as the costs imposed by institutional constraints that limit co-mingling of cattle. Through sorting, cattle feeding operations are able to reduce meat quality discounts, increase meatquality premiums, increase beef carcass quality characteristics, more efficiently use feed resources, andincrease profits.
