Cattle feeders saw their margins shrink $70 per head last week as a modest increase in market-ready supplies led packers to sharply cut their negotiated purchases.
Grilling season set to kick off as both packers and cattle feeders operating with profitable margins. Pork producers continue the struggle to reach profitability.
Packers have navigated through the tightest supplies of the season while maintaining profitability. Now, supplies are anticipated to increase seasonally which could swing more leverage in their favor.
After pleading guilty in January to mail fraud in connection with misrepresenting and underreporting cattle he grazed on Bureau of Land Management range, a Montana man receives probation and ordered to pay restitution.
Negotiated cattle traded lower for the second consecutive week and the Cattle on Feed report surprised with a placement total significantly higher than expected.
Many similarities exist between today’s cattle market and that of a decade ago. But this year’s market is not, as Yogi Berra once said, “déjà vu all over again.”
The Food and Drug Administration would have authority to inspect large feedlots linked to salmonella outbreaks and other foodborne illnesses under the Expanded Food Safety Investigation Act.
