Systems and methods for interactive beef cattle marketplace

• US 20020065765A1
• Filed: 07/20/2001
• Published: 05/30/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Eli Lilly and Company
• Original Assignee: Agspan Incorporated
• Inventors: Lind, David, Sarzen, Marcell J., Nicholson, Thomas, DeHaan, Kevin, Norwood, James, Young, Joseph, Shuler, Richard O., Fleck, William, Godbersen, Lynn
• Granted Patent: US 7,584,136 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A system and method for dynamically marketing cattle is provided comprising a buyer interface, a producer interface, a network, and an cattle information server. The cattle information server receives information from the buyer interface defining a plurality of demand profiles at least one which contains information specifying a first pre-conditioning program. The cattle information server also receives information from the producer interface defining a supply profile that specifies a second pre-conditioning program and stores the demand profiles and supply profile in a database. The cattle information server searches the database to determine if one or more of the demand profiles match the supply profile based at least in part on a comparison of the first and second pre-conditioning programs and identifies at least one demand profile in response to a match between the supply profile and the demand profile.

Claims

1. In a beef cattle marketplace comprising a buyer interface, a producer interface, and a cattle information server, each of which is communicatively connected to a network, a method for marketing cattle comprising:

receiving information defining a plurality of demand profiles at the cattle information server from the buyer interface, wherein at least one of the demand profiles specifies a first pre-conditioning program for a group of cattle;

receiving information defining a supply profile for a group of cattle at the cattle information server from the producer interface, wherein the supply profile specifies a second pre-conditioning program for the group of cattle;

comparing the supply profile to the plurality of demand profiles to determine whether a match exists between the supply profile and one of the demand profiles, based at least in part on a comparison of the first and second pre-conditioning programs;

providing an indication to one of the buyer interface and the producer interface of at least one matching demand profile in response to a match.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a bid associated with at least one of the plurality of demand profiles.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein generating a bid associated with at least one of the plurality of demand profiles comprises generating a bid price based at least in part on a non-fixed public index price.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving an acceptance of a bid from the producer interface.

5. A system for dynamically marketing cattle comprising:

a buyer interface;

a producer interface;

a network; and

an cattle information server wherein the cattle information server is communicatively connected to the buyer interface and the producer interface through the network;

wherein the cattle information server;

receives information from the buyer interface defining a plurality of demand profiles, wherein at least one of the demand profiles contains information specifying a first pre-conditioning program;

receives information from the producer interface defining a supply profile, wherein the supply profile specifies a second pre-conditioning program;

stores the demand profiles and supply profile in a database; and

searches the database to determine if one or more of the demand profiles match the supply profile based at least in part on a comparison of the first and second pre-conditioning programs; and

identifies to one of the buyer interface and producer interface at least one demand profile in response to a match between the supply profile and the demand profile.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the cattle information server further generates a bid associated with at least one of the plurality of demand profiles.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the bid generated by the cattle information server includes a bid price based at least in part on a non-fixed public index price.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the cattle information server further accepts a bid using the producer interface.

9. In a beef cattle marketplace comprising a cattle information server and at least one interface, each of which is communicatively connected to a network, a method for tracking cattle production comprising:

receiving information defining a supply profile at the cattle information server from the interface, wherein the supply profile specifies a pre-conditioning program of an identified group of cattle;

verifying the pre-conditioning program of the identified group of cattle;

storing the supply profile of the identified group of cattle in a database associated with the cattle information server;

receiving information defining carcass characteristics of the identified group of cattle at the time of harvest from the interface;

storing the carcass characteristics of the identified group of cattle in a database associated with the cattle information server; and

correlating the carcass characteristics of the identified group of cattle with the supply profile.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising identifying one of a geographic location and ownership identification of at least one animal selected from the identified group of animals.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising storing a plurality of supply profiles and correlated carcass characteristics in a database and mining the database to determine patterns between the pre-conditioning program and at least one carcass characteristic.