Sorry Econ but your empty assertions aren't proving anything. I still have seen no other market influence by the packers except their usual buy cattle there is demand they don't buy demand drops.

They are bound by regular business constraints. They have orders to fill, they know their costs. They don't kill 200% of their orders on speculation,  as if trying to manipulate consumers.

Your example about me setting the price of my bulls is missing some key elements. How do I set a price? I don't just pull it out of my butt.

I examine the quality of my bulls, check what other breeders are getting for their bulls. I know my costs and have a set base price, but that has nothing to do with the buyers, and will not influence the buyers at all.

You are correct when you say if I price them too high I don't sell them. But what do I do with them then? They don't just disappear. And no sale doesn't pay the bills.

My base is figured on what the animals are worth for beef. A surcharge for semen testing and the garantee is added to the base for a bull. Those numbers are mine alone, not public information.

I was testing some bulls this spring when another fellow showed up and told me about the bulls he bought for 1/2 of what I was selling mine for. The price was more than those bulls would have fetched through the sale ring at a cull sale, but far less than what they would have recieved on the rail. The seller was obviously not aware of what his costs were and the value of his product. Did he manipulate the market? To an extent, but only for that buyer and himself.

Back to the packers, how do they exert market pressure other than regular buying to fill orders? They can't set the price stores will pay any more than they will set the price consumers pay. Except for the fact that a business will not keep producing long term at a loss. If the consumer base was to lower the price paid for beef to a point where there were no margins left, packers would close and people wanting beef would have to revert to buying direct.