Stocker and feeder cattle sold higher at auctions last week, but pressure on prices may develop as a result of the the WASDE report which projects smaller corn and soybean acres and higher grains prices.
Early week fed cattle sales were steady at $95 to $100 per cwt., and $150 dressed. Friday, however, saw one major jump in and buy a few thousand cattle at $105, $5 higher than last week.
The beef cattle industry will receive $5.1 billion of CFAP funding to partially offset 2020 losses due to COVID-19. USDA expects to begin sign-up in early May and distribute payments by late May or early June.
COVID-19 has temporarily placed a restriction on the number of cattle that can be harvested in a given week. That scenario is usually a recipe for lower prices, but this week’s extremely light fed trade was steady.
During a Facebook Live address to cattlemen Monday night, R-CALF CEO Bill Bullard outlined four actions his group proposes to "restore balance to our dysfunctional cattle markets."
The current cattle market situation creates significant disparities between the current supply and demand situation and expectations for coming supply and demand conditions.
NAFTA was a trade pact written in the early 1990s. Derrell Peel, an extension livestock specialist with Oklahoma State University, is one who aided and gave his insights when trade negotiators were writing the deal.
Widespread wildfires mean Australian cattle and beef production will be reduced for the foreseeable future and rebuilding, whenever it can begin, will take several years.
