Markets
Stockmanship & Stewardship is a unique two-day educational experience featuring low-stress cattle handling demonstrations, Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) education and other sessions for cattlemen.
Kansas farmer and cattle feeder Jerry Bohn says any changes or modifications to the cattle marketing arrangements “should be an industry-led solution, not a government-mandated solution.”
The Checkoff-funded National Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) Program, managed by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), is now recognized as an industry-leading animal welfare program.
After a rally during the first week of 2016 to $134.04 per hundredweight, the 5-Area Accumulated Average Cattle Price dropped to $132.30 per hundredweight.
After a small dip last week to $132.30 per hundredweight, the 5-Area Accumulated Average Cattle Price jumped back up to $133.24 per hundredweight.
U.S. beef exports were down slightly from November 2014, but posted their largest volume (95,799 metric tons) since June. Most Asian markets performed well for U.S. beef in November, but exports continued to slump to le
U.S. beef exports in November showed signs of a rebound, according to data released by USDA and compiled by the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), contractor to the Beef Checkoff Program.
There are few losers in the cattle market right now. From packers all the way down to cow-calf producers, current prices this summer are turning profits far into what is typically a seasonal lull.
America’s cattle feeders earned an average of $323 on a cash basis for every steer and heifer they sent to market during the first eight months of 2017.
Cattle feeding profits improved with $1 per cwt. higher cash prices and lower feeder cattle prices calculated against last week’s closeouts.
A $1 per cwt rally helped boost cattle feeding profits marginally last week while packers lost a little off their large margins.
Packer margins improved $55 per head last week as Choice beef cutout values gained nearly $4 per cwt and cash cattle prices declined $1 per cwt.
Cattle feeding losses averaged $83 per head last week, while packers recorded $168 per head profits, according to the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker.
While cash cattle prices slipped only modestly, cattle feeders saw margins erode by $86 per head, falling from an average profit of $38 two weeks ago to an average loss of $49 per head last week.
The cash market for fed cattle last week gave some relief to feeders and overall market sentiment in the wake of the prior week’s $5/cwt. decline.
Losses continued to grow for feedyards and the spread between feeder losses and packer profits only widened with a $1.50 per cwt. decline in cash cattle prices last week.
Beef packer continued with a stranglehold on cattle markets last week, buying a few cattle to fill their needs at lower money and keeping operating margins historically high.
Clear Lab uses a robotic platform to improve food safety and its method shortens testing turnaround times by up to five days.
While Dale Durcholz does think there’s potential for a grain production number shift, he says the winter farmers and feed yards have faced is more likely to be the cause of a grain stocks shift lower.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures fell more than 1% on Wednesday on technical selling, softer cash cattle markets this week and worries about export demand for U.S. beef, traders said.
Market dynamics and consumer shifts support U.S. beef.
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.
The coronavirus meltdown is the second black swan event for cattlemen in six months, but many fear this is worse than the Tyson packing plant fire.
Tyson Foods announced a one-time assistance payments to cattle feeders “in an effort to demonstrate our commitment and support of our valued cattle suppliers.”
Significantly reduced slaughter levels brought the full weight of the COVID-19 crisis to bear on cattle markets this week as cash cattle prices declined and boxed beef prices spiked to record highs.
While any tally of cattle waiting on shackle space is – at best – an estimate, an analysis of Cattle on Feed and slaughter data suggests estimates of 1 million cattle backlogged may be overstated by as much as 50%.
Dr. Pat Westhoff joins AgriTalk’s Chip Flory to share his spin on the latest trends in crop markets, livestock outlooks and projections for net farm income.
A recent paper offers an interesting look at an alternative model for growing cattle health and performance where efficiency was achieved using less.