Livestock management systems and methods

1 . A method of enabling a user to participate in a selected beef marketing program, said method comprising:

collecting information on a plurality of animals to be certified under said marketing program;

storing said collected information in a database;

querying said database to verify that individual animals of said plurality of animals are certifiable under said marketing program;

notifying said user that said individual animals are certifiable under said marketing program;

selecting said program from a plurality of programs;

providing said user with the capability to view the program requirements that are met; and

providing said user with the capability to view the status of the program requirements.

2 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing said user with the capability to view the program requirements for said selected program.

3 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining the expenses of a seller;

determining the benefits of a buyer; and

providing said user with a valuation comprising the expenses of said seller and the benefits of said buyer.

4 . The method of claim 3 further comprising:

providing said user with a value for said individual animals based, at least in part, on said valuation.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said collecting further comprises:

collecting information on said plurality of animals based on physical attributes, and collecting information on said plurality of animals based on process attributes.

6 . A method of automatically selecting at least one individual animal out of a plurality of animals that qualifies for at least one branded beef program of a plurality of branded beef programs, said method comprising:

collecting information on a plurality of animals to be certified under said selected program;

storing said collected information in a central database;

comparing said collected information with the program requirements of said branded beef program of said plurality of branded beef programs;

notifying a user that said individual animals are certifiable;

providing said user with the capability to view the program requirements that are met; and

providing said user with the capability to view the status of the program requirements.

7 . The method of claim 6 further comprising:

determining the expenses of a seller;

determining the benefits of a buyer; and

providing said user with a valuation comprising of the expenses of said seller and the benefits of said buyer.

8 . The method of claim 7 further comprising:

providing said user with a value for said individual animals based, at least in part, on said valuation.

9 . The method of claim 6 , wherein said collecting further comprises:

collecting information on said plurality of animals based on physical attributes; and

collecting information on said plurality of animals based on process attributes.

10 . A method of ensuring compliance with branded beef program requirements, said method comprising:

detecting that at least one of a product and a service from a distributor is used on a selected individual animal of a plurality of animals;

storing information based on said detection in a database; and

retrieving information from said database to verify that said selected animal complies with said program requirements;

detecting when a user purchases said at least one of a product and a service from said distributor;

enabling said distributor to provide information about said user purchase to said database; and

providing a compliance rating for said animal based, at least in part, on said stored information in said database.

11 . The method of claim 10 wherein said providing a compliance rating comprises:

providing a buyer with expected performance information of said animal;

obtaining performance data of said animal;

determining information on actual performance of said animal based on said obtained data; and

comparing said expected performance information with said actual performance information.

12 . The method of claim 11 further comprising:

enabling a user to view said branded beef program requirements;

calculating a value for said animal based, at least in part, on market information;

providing a user with access to said stored information in said database when said user purchases said animal; and

enabling an authorized user to verify the compliance of said selected animal.

13 . A method of ensuring compliance with beef marketing program requirements, said method comprising:

monitoring a communication from a first computer concerning a selected individual animal of a plurality of animals;

comparing said communication with compliance enforcement criteria from a database located on a second computer;

verifying that said selected animal complies with said program requirements based at least in part on said comparison;

detecting when a user purchases said at least one of a product and a service from said distributor;

enabling said distributor to provide information about said user purchase to said database; and

providing a compliance rating for said animal based, at least in part, on said stored information in said database.

14 . The method of claim 13 wherein said providing a compliance rating comprises:

providing a buyer with expected performance information of said animal;

obtaining performance data of said animal;

determining information on actual performance of said animal based on said obtained data; and

comparing said expected performance information with said actual performance information.

15 . The method of claim 13 further comprising:

enabling a user to view said branded beef program requirements;

calculating a value for said animal based, at least in part, on market information;

providing a user with access to said stored information in said database when said user purchases said animal; and

enabling an authorized user to verify the compliance of said selected animal.

16 . A system of enabling a user to participate in a selected beef marketing program, said system comprising:

a server;

a plurality of computers coupled to said server; and

a central database coupled to said server;

wherein said server is configured to:

collect information on a plurality of animals to be certified under said marketing program;

store said collected information in said database;

query said database to verify that individual animals of said plurality of animals are certifiable under said marketing program; and

notify said user that said individual animals are certifiable under said marketing program.

17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein said server is further configured to:

select said program from a plurality of programs.

18 . The system of claim 16 , wherein said server is further configured to:

provide said user with the capability to view the program requirements for said selected program.

19 . The system of claim 18 , wherein said server is further configured to:

provide said user with the capability to view the program requirements that are met; and

provide said user with the capability to view the status of the program requirements.

20 . The system of claim 16 , wherein said server is further configured to:

determine the expenses of a seller;

determine the benefits of a buyer; and

provide said user with a valuation comprising the expenses of said seller and the benefits of said buyer.

21 . The system of claim 20 , wherein said server is further configured to:

provide said user with a value for said individual animals based, at least in part, on said valuation.

22 . The system of claim 16 , wherein said server is further configured to:

collect information on said plurality of animals based on physical attributes.

23 . The system of claim 16 , wherein said server is further configured to:

collect information on said plurality of animals based on process attributes.