Markets
The August fire at Tyson’s Finney County, Kan., beef facility too 6% of slaughter capacity offline and forced packers to scramble to pick up the slack at other harvest locations.
All cattle feeding areas were able to take advantage of the packer’s need for cattle last week and cash prices moved higher.
U.S. cattle on feed Sept. 1, 2019, were estimated at 11.0 million head, down 1% from a year ago, USDA reports.
Beef production will increase this year, and that remains a key driver for the price of fed cattle.
Stocker and feeder cattle prices were $2 to $7 higher at auction across the nation. Abundant forage conditions has left ranchers in no hurry to sell cattle.
Citing growing frustration with low cattle prices while beef packers reap large profits, a grassroots campaign was launched this week seeking the support of President Donald Trump.
Cattle markets continued under pressure in the first full week of trading following the Labor Day holiday.
A fire Friday afternoon at Cargill’s Doge City, Kan., facility was quickly extinguished and damage to the plant was minimal and no impact on operations is expected.
The rapid growth in Chinese beef imports has dramatically altered global beef flows with several countries now exporting a significant share of total exports to China.
The $1 threshold seemed to be a sticking point for cattle feeders last week, and many held firm on Friday which could prove to give cash prices a needed boost.
Omaha-based Green Plains Inc, announced it has completed the sale of 50% of Green Plains Cattle Company LLC for $77 million.
“Economic and political order has become disorder,” Dan Basse, president of AgResource told attendees at the recent Feeding Quality Forum during his keynote address.
The new frontier in nutrition research is the rumen microbe population, and new management practices have been shown to improve rumen health.
The cattle industry needs to make some bold, creative changes to ensure its viability, according to speakers at the Feeding Quality Forum held in Amarillo, Texas.
Cash fed cattle continued a downward spiral driven by losses in CME Live cattle futures. Tyson announced its Kansas beef plant won’t be fully operational until January.
The lack of aggressive trade was noticed mostly in the south where cash trade could not get any higher than $1.00 last week.
Cash fed cattle traded at lower prices ahead of the Labor Day weekend, while steer and heifer calves sold steady to higher at auctions.
When loading and unloading cattle, the choice of “movement assistance device” may affect the loading outcome as well as the end product.
If anything good comes from the Tyson fire, maybe it will be that everyone will realize the burden of our over-committed fed cattle supply.
USCA calls on the USDA and the CFTC to “convene cattle market participants to discuss concerns related to price transparency and true price discovery.”
Brazil’s agriculture minister says Indonesia has authorized beef exports from 10 Brazilian meat packing plants.
U.S. Ag Secretary Sonny Purdue has directed USDA’s Packers and Stockyards Division to launch an investigation into recent beef pricing activity.
Citing heightened concerns about environmental preservation and sustainable beef production, JBS SA is using satellite technology to monitor suppliers.
Poor performance from CME futures on Friday limited what cattle feeders could gain back on the cash market from the declines over the last few weeks.
U.S. cattle on feed totaled 11.1 million head in USDA’s August 1 inventory, which was slightly higher than the same period a year ago.
While the fire was unfortunate, the industry suffered more from an over-reaction by cattle markets in the week immediately following the fire.
Packers were hesitant to offer a bid on cattle early last week, and after a $5 decline, feeders still have many unanswered questions about the impact of harvest capacity.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly says the fire at Tyson’s beef facility will affect many individuals and businesses in the beef industry that fuels western Kansas, and offered the state’s support.
In a head-scratching week of data, estimated cattle slaughter was 9,000 head higher following the Tyson fire, cattle prices were down 5% or more, and yet wholesale beef prices rose 9%.
AgriTalk host Chip Flory and Drovers editor Greg Henderson discuss the impact of the fire at Tyson’s facility in Kansas and the impact on cattle markets.