Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) has had a considerable effect on the revenues received from finished cattle in the UK. Forecasting models are used to measure the extent of the drop in revenues by determining what the price would have been under normal marketing conditions. The models used are a regression model, which, although representing a simplified view of the market, takes account of price expectations, and an ARIMA‐type model. Comparison between the forecasts of the two models forms part of the validation procedure. The results using the regression forecasts indicated a loss of 8.6 percent while the ARIMA forecasts indicated a loss of 11.8 percent over the year October 1989 to September 199