Latest News From Greg Henderson

Ranchers' Price-fixing Suit Against Big 4 Packers Dismissed
Ranchers' Price-fixing Suit Against Big 4 Packers Dismissed

A federal judge in Minnesota dismissed the claims filed by a putative class of cattle ranchers in a long-running case that alleged an industry-wide scheme to fix prices.

Cash Cattle Lower, Wholesale Beef Higher, COF Down 2%
Cash Cattle Lower, Wholesale Beef Higher, COF Down 2%

Fed cattle trade was called moderate to active in all regions with lower prices. Friday's cattle on feed report saw significant reductions in feedyard placements.

Mackey: Reluctant Steady to Higher Trades
Mackey: Reluctant Steady to Higher Trades

Cattle inventories simply are not large enough for the packer to build any market leverage. Reluctantly, packers bought cattle at steady to higher money and cowboys will seek more this week.

Prosecutors To Drop One Charge Against Arizona Rancher
Prosecutors To Drop One Charge Against Arizona Rancher

Less than a month before an Arizona rancher is set to stand trial in the shooting death of an illegal immigrant, prosecutors will ask the court to dismiss one of the two charges.

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Fed Cattle Trade Quiet, Feeders & Calves Advance

Cash cattle trade was sluggish as feeders and packers dig in their heels. Feeder cattle and calf prices continue marching higher even as drought sends some early-weaned calves to market.

Profit Tracker: Packer-Feeder Margin Spread Nears $600
Profit Tracker: Packer-Feeder Margin Spread Nears $600

Cattle feeders continue to gain market leverage as packers see pressure from declining wholesale beef prices. Pork producer margins remain solidly in the black.

Biden Designates New National Monument in Arizona
Biden Designates New National Monument in Arizona

President Joe Biden on Tuesday designated his fifth national monument in Arizona, an action embraced by Native American tribes in the area and opposed by mining companies and cattlemen.

Northern Trade Higher, South In A Standoff
Northern Trade Higher, South In A Standoff

Packers are picking around the edges and dragging their feet when looking at higher asking prices, but the bull market remains in place with the cattle feeder gaining leverage each week.

Witness in Arizona Rancher Murder Case Served Prison Term for Smuggling Cannabis
Witness in Arizona Rancher Murder Case Served Prison Term for Smuggling Cannabis

The state's key witness in the trial of an Arizona rancher accused of killing a Mexican citizen trespassing on his property last January had previously served time in a federal prison for drug smuggling.

Profit Tracker: Beef Packer Losses Hit Triple Digits
Profit Tracker: Beef Packer Losses Hit Triple Digits

Packers have reduced harvest and employed other tactics in an effort to regain positive margins. Pork producer margins took another step higher as lean carcass prices advance.

New Custom Rates For Livestock Services Published
New Custom Rates For Livestock Services Published

What should you expect to pay for custom baling or silage chopping? A new report from the University of Nebraska may offer guidelines. A webinar covering the livestock-specific report will be held at noon on Thursday.

Standoff: Feedyards and Packers Dig In
Standoff: Feedyards and Packers Dig In

Cattle feeders held firm to higher asking prices and packers continued to wave lower bids with only a few cattle trading hands. Leverage remains in the feeder’s hand as packers must begin filling Labor Day orders soon.

Profit Tracker: Beef & Pork Producer Margins Gaining
Profit Tracker: Beef & Pork Producer Margins Gaining

The spread between cattle feeding margins and beef packer margins has now reached $500 per head as packing losses increase. Pork producer margins are the highest of the year.

Cash Cattle Higher as Herd Continues to Shrink
Cash Cattle Higher as Herd Continues to Shrink

Packers and cattle feeders spent the week in a standoff ahead of USDA's dual July reports that were bullish as expected, suggesting a 3% decline in cattle inventories and a 2% decline in cattle on feed inventories.

Profit Tracker: Flip The Script
Profit Tracker: Flip The Script

There’s a $400 spread between cattle feeding margins and packer margins – now in the cowboy’s favor. Cattle harvest is lower as packers reduce hours, a signal their margins are in the red.

What Slump? Cattle Higher; Corn Too!
What Slump? Cattle Higher; Corn Too!

Generally, a good week for agriculture with cattle steady to stronger despite a significant rally in the corn market. Packers try to hide their hand, but without inventory they must pay up to keep plants running.

Profit Tracker: Declining Feed Costs
Profit Tracker: Declining Feed Costs

Last week produced the lowest feed costs and lowest break evens for pigs placed in the finish barns since December 2021. Cattle feeders also saw declining feeding costs.

BOLO for Fed Cattle: Packers Need Inventory, Prices Steady to Higher
BOLO for Fed Cattle: Packers Need Inventory, Prices Steady to Higher

If there was an industry-wide BOLO system (be on the lookout), packers would have used it this week as they seek to build an inventory of market-ready cattle to fill their post-July 4th needs.

Profit Tracker: Ahead of the Slump?
Profit Tracker: Ahead of the Slump?

If a seasonal price decline develops as anticipated, this year’s starting point for cattle feeders is the best in a decade. Pork producers notch their second week of modest profits.

Cash Cattle Steady to Weaker, Feeders Rally
Cash Cattle Steady to Weaker, Feeders Rally

Feeder cattle got a boost from declining corn prices and wholesale beef prices moved lower ahead of next week's holiday-shortened schedule.

Montana Rancher Receives Probation and Fined for BLM Scheme
Montana Rancher Receives Probation and Fined for BLM Scheme

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.

Which Are The Best BBQ Cities in America?
Which Are The Best BBQ Cities in America?

Which cities have the best barbeque? The answer depends on who you ask, and two recent rankings provide different results.

Ghost Manure Digesters Scheme Sends California Man to Prison
Ghost Manure Digesters Scheme Sends California Man to Prison

A California man has shown that ghost cattle are unnecessary to create a Ponzi scheme, just ghost manure. Or, at least, ghost manure digesters.

Profit Tracker: Cattle Prices, Profits Decline; Pork Margins Gain
Profit Tracker: Cattle Prices, Profits Decline; Pork Margins Gain

Wholesale beef prices continue to support packer margins even as negotiated cash cattle trade well-above the five-year average. Pork producers enjoy a market rally that has lifted margins out of the red.

Cash Cattle Trade Lower, COF Down 3 Percent
Cash Cattle Trade Lower, COF Down 3 Percent

Negotiated cattle traded lower for the second consecutive week and the Cattle on Feed report surprised with a placement total significantly higher than expected.

Drought's Lasting Impact
Drought's Lasting Impact

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.”

Cell-Cultured Chicken Gains Final USDA Approval
Cell-Cultured Chicken Gains Final USDA Approval

Three California-based cultivated meat companies have received approval from USDA to begin producing and marketing lab-grown chicken.

Profit Tracker: Packers Gain Modest Leverage
Profit Tracker: Packers Gain Modest Leverage

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.

Cash Cattle Rally Takes A Breather
Cash Cattle Rally Takes A Breather

Cash cattle prices retreated from the previous week's historic highs and a seasonal decline was to be expected. Analysts, however, believe another rally is brewing later in the season.

Proposed Bill Would Allow FDA to Probe Feedlots
Proposed Bill Would Allow FDA to Probe Feedlots

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.

Profit Tracker: History Making Beef Market
Profit Tracker: History Making Beef Market

Cattle feeders sold more cattle last week than any week this year and at the highest price in history. Pork producers saw modest profits.

Walmart Beef Plant Tied to Investment in Sustainable Beef LLC
Walmart Beef Plant Tied to Investment in Sustainable Beef LLC

Set to open in 2025, the Olathe, Kan., plant will further Walmart’s commitment to creating an end-to-end Angus beef supply chain.

Cash Cattle: Another Week, Another Record Price
Cash Cattle: Another Week, Another Record Price

A significant rally in fed cattle over the past three weeks confirms the front-end supply of cattle remains extremely current and cattle feeders have been willing sellers driven by good profits and a strong basis.

Profit Tracker: Joyride Continues for Feedyards
Profit Tracker: Joyride Continues for Feedyards

Profit margins for cattle feeders and packers continue pacing in opposite directions as shrinking supplies of market-ready cattle drive negotiated cash prices higher.

Former USDA Animal Inspector Sentenced for Accepting Bribes
Former USDA Animal Inspector Sentenced for Accepting Bribes

While serving as an inspector at the southern U.S. border, a Laredo, Tex., man accepted bribes from Mexican cattle brokers to allow cattle to enter the country without proper quarantine or inspection.

New Home for Old Bridge on Wyoming Ranch
New Home for Old Bridge on Wyoming Ranch

A Wyoming ranch will repurpose a century-old bridge after transporting it 40 miles to its new home.

Cattle Markets Spike Higher in Post-Holiday Joyride
Cattle Markets Spike Higher in Post-Holiday Joyride

Packers were aggressive bidders in all regions as cash fed cattle markets made historic late-season moves higher in the holiday-shortened trading week.

Profit Tracker: Cattle Margins Top $400, Packers Red
Profit Tracker: Cattle Margins Top $400, Packers Red

Cattle feeders experience largest average profits in seven years as packer margins dip into the red.

Packers Chase Inventory, Prices Jump Higher
Packers Chase Inventory, Prices Jump Higher

Packers unexpectedly found themselves chasing a limited supply of higher-grading cattle last week and the result was sharply higher prices in the North.

Cash Cattle Steady to $2 Higher; COF Down 3%
Cash Cattle Steady to $2 Higher; COF Down 3%

Cash cattle traded steady to higher with futures prices trading higher for the week. Wholesale beef prices finished the week near steady.

Profit Tracker: Cattle Margins Steady, Pork Remains Red
Profit Tracker: Cattle Margins Steady, Pork Remains Red

Cattle feeders saw average profits of more than $300 per head last week while pork producers found average losses of about $13 per head.

House Subcommittee Hears Animal Ag ‘Stakeholder Priorities’
House Subcommittee Hears Animal Ag ‘Stakeholder Priorities’

U.S. House Agriculture's Subcommittee hearing on Wednesday provided an opportunity for animal agriculture stakeholders to detail their priorities they hope to achieve from lawmakers actions.

WSJ Challenges The “Big Meat Conspiracy Theory”
WSJ Challenges The “Big Meat Conspiracy Theory”

After Tyson Foods reports anemic first quarter sales and downgrades its forecast, The Wall Street Journal editors wrote, “This doesn’t look like an antitrust conspiracy or market oligopoly.”

Cash Cattle: North Steady, South $2 Lower
Cash Cattle: North Steady, South $2 Lower

Negotiated cash cattle prices declined for the fourth consecutive week in the South but held steady in Northern trades.

Profit Tracker: Packers Preserve Their Margins
Profit Tracker: Packers Preserve Their Margins

Grilling season set to kick off as both packers and cattle feeders operating with profitable margins. Pork producers continue the struggle to reach profitability.

Cash Cattle Slip Another $1 to $2 Lower
Cash Cattle Slip Another $1 to $2 Lower

Negotiated cash cattle prices declined for the third consecutive week in a moderate to active trade. Wholesale beef prices also declined yet remain above seasonal averages.

Kentucky Cattle Scheme With 78,000 Ghost Cattle Unravels
Kentucky Cattle Scheme With 78,000 Ghost Cattle Unravels

A fraudulent cattle scheme allegedly orchestrated by a Kentucky cattleman has left investors and a financial institution reeling under a $100 million loss.

Profit Tracker: All Eyes On The Packer
Profit Tracker: All Eyes On The Packer

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.

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Impressive Spring Wholesale Rally Leads Beef Toward Looming Holidays

Wholesale beef prices hit a recent low the end of March at $280.51 per cwt., but the steady march higher since then put Friday’s close as the highest Choice cutout value for that week on data available back to 2004.

Cash Cattle Lower, Wholesale Beef Marches Higher
Cash Cattle Lower, Wholesale Beef Marches Higher

Cash cattle traded lower in all regions while feeder cattle and calves were mostly higher. Many analysts remain optimistic that the spring highs are yet to be seen.