Hulett: Cattle Prices Continue to Pull Back
The southern cattle feeding regions all saw a pullback in the market last week. The trade began in Texas on Tuesday with yards deciding $136 was enough. This trade was adequate to get packers into good shape and force all other sellers to take this price for the week. Kansas cattle feeders were able to hold out until Thursday, but much like Texas, no packers needed enough cattle in order to hold the market steady.
The northern region also saw lower prices again last week. Packer participation remained decent, but a growing number of market-ready cattle left the packer in control. Cash cattle ranged from $139 to $144, with dressed cattle ranging from $222 to $227.
Last week many government reports stated there was a large number of negotiated trades in the state of Kansas. Most of these trades were grid-based negotiated trades. Producers who trade cattle on a regular basis know that this number was nowhere close to the actual number that traded. This shed light on one of the main problems in our industry, which is AMA’s who are committed to one packer turning in grid cattle and claiming that they are negotiated. It would seem rather hard to negotiate a trade when you only have one packer coming to your yard and that is the only place you send cattle. One can only imagine that people will do anything to change perception and not risk government intervention into their business. One would also assume that most of academia has turned a blind eye on this issue when they claim we have robust trade.
Brad Hulett is Director, Customer Development & Regional Manager, Kansas, at Consolidated Beef Producers, Inc.
