Three Iowa Congresspeople have introduced cattle market transparency legislation that’s a companion measure to a Senate Bill introduced earlier by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley. It calls for packers to purchase at least 50 percent of their animals on the spot market in a 14 day period. Iowa Cattleman and Regional R—CALF Director Eric Nelson says cattle markets are broken and need fixing.

He says the lack of transparency in the cattle markets and lack of competition has been in effect for some time.

Nelson says his group is continuing to weigh in with members of Congress about the need for this measure and correcting misinformation that’s been spread about the issue.

Nelson says in some cases, independent cattle producers have been unable to even get a market bid. He says while that’s been the case in Western Iowa, it’s worst in the eastern part of the state.