“The bottom line for me is, we were taking a step in the right direction and we lost that,” Peterson said. “This lack of transparency isn’t going away now.”

It’s the fat cattle sales from feedlot to meat packer that present common ground for folks like Peterson and private sales advocates like Miles City rancher Fred Wacker.

At the ranch level, Wacker has more than one buyer for his cattle. He doesn’t see the need to disclose his prices to the federal government for the sake of transparency. There are small sales of 30 cattle or fewer, sometimes between neighbors or family, that don’t need to be reported. Sales between feedlots and large meat packers are a different story.

“I’ve always thought it infringed on the confidentiality of two willing parties,” Wacker said. “But on fat cattle, I think it’s fine that the packers, where there’s only four of them, have to report on the purchase.”