I want to add as well that many of the packers buy cattle on specific programs. If they have been specially fed to handle a certain brand market that the packers have, they need to make sure they have those cattle lined up. Some of the packers have their pricing out a year in advance, and so they need to make sure they have enough cattle in the pipeline to meet their sales needs, to keep everything going along the way.
On March 10th, 2009. See this statement in context.