USDA reports are not an exact science of data collection and should not be treated as such. We have to take the information from all reports, reported and/or surveyed, and use it accordingly in our analysis.
Production efficiency is key to sustainability including profitability, both at the ranch and for the industry as a whole, but that production efficiency doesn’t end at the ranch gate.
Is the Biden Administration's plan for the beef industry workable, or does it ignore the economics of market structure and pricing across the meat industry supply chain?
With 2022 nearly upon us, and bringing the prospect of a solid cattle market and profits to cow-calf producers not realized since 2015, now is a good time for ranchers to rethink their business in terms of time frame.
Changes in the beef supply chain in recent years have had an increasingly greater market impact. Pricing cattle off the cutout would provide a negotiating a formula that captures a relevant share of the total value.
Cattlemen considering making the leap into ownership of a packing plant should consider how their risk profile dramatically changes with labor, trucking, and the cost of building and retaining markets.
We are rapidly approaching the point where we may soon be discussing the cattle cycle in terms of GHGs rather than forage supplies and producer profits.
Does the beef industry have enough packer capacity? With repeated bottlenecks and a worker shortage, a better question might be, "can the industry better use the capacity it has?"
In the haste to go after packers in order to gain producer trust, the government may be using consumer price inflation as a means for greater leverage against packers, suggests John Nalivka.
Presume for a moment that all of this optimism turns out to be wrong and market performance does not deliver as analysts forecast. How will this affect your business going forward?
The outlook for cattle prices and higher returns to cattlemen is looking positive for 2022. Low prices and significant cost inflation significantly impacted cow-calf producer decisions toward herd numbers.
Cattlemen should be suspicious of legislative and regulatory activity that interferes with markets under the guise of improving them, writes John Nalivka. Before long the entire camel is “in the tent.”
Malheur County, Oregon, the nation's 12th largest county in area, received a blizzard last week that resulted in an experienced hiker being stranded. Ranchers joined the sheriff's department in a successful rescue.
The topic of beef packer capacity remains a critical industry concern. It plays an important role across the entire red meat supply chain from the ranch to the packer/processor through distribution.
Since the beginning of March, any year-over-year comparison of cattle slaughter and feedlot inventory flow has been interesting given the distortions in the flow of cattle resulting from COVID plant slowdowns last year
Nevada is exploring the idea of “water banking,” which, in short, is the creation of a market to sell and/or buy water rights. We should all be skeptical of hedge funds trading water rights independent of the land.
Economists warn that the increasing money supply and government stimulus will lead to inflationary pressure on the economy and a burden on all American consumers.
Proposed legislation that is perceived to make markets work better and solve a problem often has the opposite effect, argues Sterling Marketing president John Nalivka.
Our society's focus on how cattle impact climate change is concerning, and ranchers should rightly be worried about how a bureaucrat could use regulation to change demand for beef.
Regulatory activity may be the single greatest threat to U.S. food production as it impacts the entire supply chain from the producer to the consumer. It appears U.S. regulatory activity is increasing.
Analyzing profit and loss relationships across the production end of both the beef and pork supply chains is key to decisions regardless of where you sit in that supply chain.
While packing plant closure and slow-downs disrupted the beef industry in 2020, demand will become more critical heading into 2021 including consumption at-home, away-from-home, and for export.
A judge in eastern Oregon awarded $180,000 in litigation costs to animal rights groups in a wild horse lawsuit. Such management and litigation show the system has gone awry.
When a plant increases operational capacity, there is an increase in total industry capacity which in turn has economic ramifications through the cattle cycle as the inventory is expanded or liquidated.
Long term financial success for the beef industry will require fostering market approaches that are consistent with the future direction of the industry, says John Nalivka who supports a CME Beef Cutout contract.
It seems as though marketing has always been kept at an arms-length from production agriculture. Until recently, raising cattle has been well-defined just as the name says – raising cattle.
Data from USDA's monthly cattle on feed reports and rising feeder cattle prices in July suggest cattle feeders have pen space to fill and the backlog of cattle is now diminishing.
Since the week of May 16 when the beef cutout hit record highs, the price has fallen 56%. Simultaneously, weekly beef production has increased 29% and carcass weights are averaging 37 pounds more than last year.
The U.S. beef industry is a forage-based industry and that one distinction from the pork and poultry industries will hinder any future vertical integration, says John Nalivka.
U.S. cattle slaughter was up an estimated 25% over the previous holiday-shortened week as beef packers gradually return to near-normal capacity utilization.
"The concept of sustainability that will be tested the next few years concerns economic security. Our U.S. public debt has become unsustainable, an issue that must be addressed."
Some operational changes made by the packing and processing centers are likely to remain after the COVID-19 pandemic is over, leaving some higher costs in the supply-chain.
Plant closings and slowdowns are major symptoms of the meat and poultry industries’ disruption due to COVID-19 and product distribution and livestock production are also critical to a smoothly running supply chain.
COVID-19 has fundamentally changed consumer behavior and the U.S. economy. The effects are unprecedented and it is difficult to determine how long the impact will last.
Does the beef industry need additional packer slaughter capacity? Recent history suggests cattle prices were highest when packing capacity utilization was lowest, but the answer is complex.
Over the past five years carcasses grading Choice represent 82% of slaughter, and carcass weights are also on a steady trend higher which is a cautionary sign for cattle feeders.
As a new decade begins, the beef industry’s voice must become one if producers are to benefit from the many opportunities presented today while confronting numerous challenges.
As 2019 rapidly comes to a close and the holiday season is upon us, Americans have an abundance for which to be thankful. This is particularly true with regard to food production in the U.S.
As 2019 rapidly comes to a close and the holiday season is upon us, Americans have an abundance for which to be thankful. This is particularly true with regard to food production in the U.S.
Capturing and using data on the performance of your herd and the profitability of your ranch can help you make decisions that will lead to better performance and profitability.
Ranchers can no longer consider their end product as calves or yearlings, with their role in the industry complete once those calves or yearlings are loaded on a truck and leave the ranch.
Beef cow slaughter in 2019 will be the highest relative to the overall cow herd since 2013, and suggests tighter supplies in 2020 and higher overall prices.
