Markets
For technology to have value, it must be predictive in both the sick and healthy to minimize treating healthy calves and find those sick calves early.
Cattle are adaptable to a variety of feeding systems and programs, and their growth can be programmed in a very predictable way through changing the net energy of the ration or using “programmed feeding.”
The loss of the food service demand caused beef middle meats to drop to their lowest price in a decade. Conversely, the carcass cutout value has increased, driving a wider spread between live cattle and carcass values.
The cattle industry continues to struggle getting cattle out of feedyards and into harvest facilities, leading to another week of limited trade.
The reduced number of cattle harvested wasn’t a surprise with the issues that all packers have faced in the past few weeks with COVID-19.
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.
Vaccines can cost more than $3.00 per dose, and if not stored properly they can be rendered ineffective. Producers cannot afford to overlook the importance of how they store vaccines and handle them prior to injection.
Cattle feeders experienced a week of light participation from packers as the impact of COVID-19 begins to hamper beef production facilities.
Zoetis announces the acquisition of Performance Livestock Analytics to enhance its animal health solutions across the continuum of care for beef producers.
Cattle prices were in full retreat, giving back all the previous week’s gains. The magnitude of the decline was on full display at feeder cattle auctions with the rollback accelerating throughout the week.
The unprecedented events surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic have led to a severe economic downturn and will impact livestock markets going forward.
Cash cattle prices were under pressure as packer demand was soft in both the North and South last week. Numbers of ready cattle will grow in the coming weeks.
Can prices gained in last week’s fed cattle rally be maintained? There is some concern that the lack of cattle moving in the cash trade is starting to back cattle up and hurt hard-earned gains.
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.
After several days of up and downs in CME futures prices, cattle feeders saw their chances of getting back to steady slip away on Thursday as the board sold off.
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.
At the NCBA Trade Show in San Antonio, Certified Angus Beef’s director of packing explained the opportunities still open for producing Prime.
Cash fed cattle traded at $113 per cwt. for the week, $2 lower. Cattle sold on a dressed basis at firm prices of $182 per cwt.
Current wholesale beef values are lower year-over-year, but it’s too early to gauge what impact the COVID-19 virus has had on both export and domestic beef demand.
Three Tyson Foods, Inc. sustainability programs achieved recognition for alignment to the U.S. Beef Industry Sustainability Framework.
If there was ever a question of how much outside influence there is on the cattle market it was completely exposed this past week with fears over the coronavirus growing.
At a 50,000-head feed yard, there are all types of cattle. But one Kansas cattle feeder knows that no matter the class and kind, they all do better with some TLC.
We often consider the saving or revenue opportunity from technology, but this data reveal where the unexpected opportunity lies in the middle, preventing unnecessary treatment or finding calves we didn’t know were ill.
The coronavirus is another “black swan” that is different in some fundamental ways from other such events in cattle markets, such as the packing plant fire last year or even the first BSE case in late 2003.
Cattle on feed data shows the largest number of cattle in feedlots during February since 2008, while placements were 99.4% of year ago, a little smaller than expected.
Cattle traded in the south early in the week at $1 higher prices, suggesting packers were hungry for inventory.
Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 11.9 million head on February 1, 2020.
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.
Growing more pounds of beef efficiently makes sense for everybody from ranch to consumer, according to a longtime South Dakota feedyard nutritionist.
If investors continue to find value in the live cattle market, producers may see a run in the board that could carry over into the live cattle trade.