Green Plains Cattle Co. continues to grow after buying Bartlett Cattle Company's two feedlots, leaving Bartlett & Co. with no feedlots and raising Green Plains capacity to 355,000 head.
Friday’s report is anticipated not only for the information that enables market analysts to estimate slaughter cattle supplies, but also because the January report was unpublished due to the government shutdown.
Limited winter grazing numbers and early movement of wheat pasture cattle to feedlots means that little of the normal March run of wheat pasture cattle will be seen this year in the Southern Plains.
Seasonality is often discussed in terms of a consistent pattern in cash prices. In the northern plains the cash or spot price for fed cattle has an April or May peak with a September or October low.
Anecdotal evidence and supply observations suggest packers have recently had a negotiating advantage over feedlots. Packer margins continue to be wide and the supply of cattle on feed continues to be high.
Dale Grotelueschen, director of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Great Plains Veterinary Education Center received the veterinarian of the year award from the Nebraska Veterinary Medical Association.
Fed cattle trade was slow to develop in the southern plains with packer bids falling $2 short of steady. Feeder cattle traded at uneven prices across the nation.
With the passing of Memorial Day and the unofficial start of summer upon us, sellers of highly marbled, finished cattle are wondering where the demand is.
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.
A strong domestic economy and robust exports have buffered beef, and hence, cattle prices against near record large U.S. beef production and all-time highs in competing meats and poultry supplies.
As grain prices remain fairly stagnant, momentum is gaining in the cattle complex. Cattle futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) are on fire this week after hitting contract highs.