Honest Cattle® · Legal
Disclaimer
Effective October 3, 2026
The short version. Honest Cattle tells you what the cattle market did, what the public data say, and what we think comes next. It does not tell you what to buy or sell. The decisions, and the risk, are yours.
Information, not advice
Everything published by Honest Cattle®, on honestcattle.net, in the Weekly Cattle Market Forecast, in email editions, in the Honest Cattle Market Index, on the county pages, in our calculators and workbooks and on social media, is general information for Montana cattle producers and others in the trade. It is not trading, hedging, investment, insurance, tax, accounting, legal or veterinary advice, and it is not tailored to your operation. Nothing we publish is an offer, solicitation or recommendation to buy or sell cattle, any futures contract or option, any Livestock Risk Protection or other insurance policy, or any other product.
Honest Cattle and its publisher, Farm Animal Transparency, LLC, are not registered as an investment adviser, commodity trading advisor, futures commission merchant, introducing broker or insurance producer with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the National Futures Association, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the USDA Risk Management Agency, the Montana Commissioner of Securities and Insurance or any other regulator, and nothing we publish should be read as if we were. Honest Cattle holds no futures or options positions and recommends none.
Forecasts are probabilities
Our quarterly price bands, the HCMI forward curve and every other forward-looking statement are estimates built from public data and our own judgment. They can be wrong, and sometimes they are. We grade our past forecasts against what the market actually did and print the scorecard, so you can judge our record for yourself. Past accuracy does not guarantee future accuracy. Cattle prices can move sharply on weather, disease, trade policy, feed costs, packer decisions and events no one foresaw.
Where the numbers come from
We rely on sources we name in each report: USDA Agricultural Marketing Service market news and the individual Montana sale-barn reports, USDA NASS and ERS, CME Group settlements, the USDA Risk Management Agency, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the U.S. Drought Monitor, the Montana Department of Livestock and the sale barns and video auction houses themselves. We check these sources and state the date of every figure. Agencies revise their data, barns post results late or not at all, and feeds go down. A figure can be superseded after we publish it, and some weeks a report is missing. We do not warrant that any number is accurate, complete or current, and we are not responsible for errors in the sources we rely on.
Calculators and tools
Calf Check, the Calf Price Forecasting Tool, the Drought Implications tool, the Forage Score and our other tools produce estimates from the figures you enter and from published data. They simplify the real world. Slide terms, shrink, freight, commission and other costs vary by sale and by buyer. Confirm the actual terms with your barn, your buyer or your agent before you commit cattle.
Livestock Risk Protection and other insurance
Our LRP Corner reports the coverage prices, premium rates and end dates that the USDA Risk Management Agency publishes. We do not sell insurance and cannot tell you whether a policy suits your operation. LRP is sold only through licensed crop-insurance agents, who can quote current rates and explain the terms.
Artificial intelligence
Parts of our research, writing, charts and tools are prepared with the assistance of artificial-intelligence software and reviewed by a person before publication. AI-assisted material can contain mistakes. If a figure matters to a decision, check it against the source we cite.
Outside links and opinions
We link to other websites and quote other people’s analysis. We do not control those sites and do not endorse everything on them. Opinions expressed in Honest Cattle are those of the author on the date of publication and may change without notice.
Your responsibility
You alone are responsible for your marketing, hedging, insurance, feeding and herd decisions and for the results. Before acting on anything you read here, consider your own circumstances and, where appropriate, consult a licensed professional: a commodity broker or registered advisor, a crop-insurance agent, a lender, an accountant, an attorney or a veterinarian.
Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Farm Animal Transparency, LLC and Dirk Adams are not liable for any loss or damage, direct or indirect, including lost profits or lost livestock value, arising from your use of or reliance on anything published by Honest Cattle. Our Terms of Use set out the full disclaimer of warranties and limitation of liability.
Questions
Write to Dirk Adams at dirkadams@mac.com.