Many segments of the beef cattle industry have raised concerns that the live cattle negotiated market has become too thin. The percentage of live cattle procured through direct negotiations has declined to about 15%, while the percentage procured through formulas has increased to almost 70%. Most of these formulas are based on negotiated cattle prices. Proposed legislation mandating that a larger percentage of live cattle be procured through negotiations represents a market intervention. We show that live cattle futures prices are good proxies for negotiated cash prices, while being less restrictive for meeting proposed cattle procurement percentage requirements.