Feedlot and beef packer margins both saw marginal improvement last week over the previous week. Feedlots benefited from a $3/cwt. gain in the 5 Area Direct Steer price ($233.17/cwt).
Packers posted margin improvement slaughtering lower cost cattle purchased the week prior ($230.47/cwt.) though the Comprehensive Beef Cutout was off $4/cwt. to average $365.81/cwt. for the week. Fed plant utilization averaged 78.5% for the week while utilization in cow plants averaged 59.9%.
Range fires in Oregon and Washington are having a severe negative impact on rangeland — both Federal and private — grazing and this will likely impact many ranches for the next two to three years.
View the full Sterling Beef Profit Tracker for the week ending Aug. 1.
The Beef and Pork Profit Trackers are calculated by Sterling Marketing, Vale, Ore.
(Note: The Sterling Beef Profit Tracker calculates an average beef cutout value for the week in its estimates for feedyard and packer margins. Other prices in the weekly Profit Tracker also are calculated weekly averages. Feedyard margins are calculated on a cash basis only with no adjustment for risk management practices. The Beef and Pork Profit Trackers are intended only as a benchmark for the average cash costs of feeding cattle and hogs. Sterling Marketing is a private, independent beef and pork consulting firm not associated with any packing company or livestock feeding enterprise.)
