BEEF
Feedyard margins dropped another $20 last week to total an average loss of $90 per head, according to the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker.
Calling losses of $193 per head an improvement may be painful, but it’s accurate.
Feedyard profit margins rebounded slightly after last week’s $2 rally in the cash fed cattle market.
As expected, beef packer margins jumped wildly higher the week ending Aug. 17, while cattle feeding margins slipped into the red.
Cattle feeding margins slipped further into the red last week on soft cash prices, while packer margins climbed to extreme heights.
Last week’s $2 rally in cash cattle prices helped narrow the spread between feedyard losses and packer profits.
The combination of shrinking packer profits and smaller feedyard losses over the past six weeks has reduced the packer/feeder margin spread by 27%, according to the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker.
Cattle feeders continue to find modest profits on a cash basis despite last week’s $2 per cwt. market retreat.
Cattle feeding margins jumped $72 per head higher the week ending Jan. 25 as the value of feeder cattle calculated against those closeouts declined $8 per cwt.
Further processing of value-added products for direct sale to end-user customers in both retail and foodservice will increase over the next five years and help feed the growing global consumer demand.
The PRIME Act would severely jeopardize U.S. meat’s exemplary food safety record and could cripple demand for beef products to the detriment of family cattle farmers, says NCBA Policy Division Chair Gene Copenhaver.
USDA’s proposed rule change to the Animal Disease Traceability (ADT) framework has given rise to several recurring arguments which offer confusion and distraction.
Young calves continue to dot fields across the country. To help offer young calves a healthy start, Tony Hawkins, DVM, and Ray Shultz, DVM, shared some tips.
More Select grading carcasses and fewer Prime goes against what beef customers desire. To offset this drop, end users have adopted a new chilling method to increase reserves before prices soar.
Cow-calf producers need to work smarter, not harder.
In a letter to CFTC Chairman Heath Tarbert, NCBA asked the agency to keep an “even closer eye on the cattle markets” following the fire that forced closure of Tyson’s beef plant in western Kansas.
There is little evidence to suggest that plant-based alternatives are anything more than a fad being driven by massive investments in advertising, outdated information and many false or misleading claims.
As the Senate nears a vote on the Great American Outdoors Act, NCBA and 48 other livestock and natural resource groups oppose the bill because it creates more than $14 billion in new, mandatory spending.
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.
Beef and lamb producers from New Zealand are planning to spend several million dollars on a campaign to promote their products in the U.S. to help strengthen their import position.
Activists entering animal facilities under false pretenses are protected in Kansas by ‘free speech’ due to recent Supreme Court rejection.
For ranch chores many Drovers readers say they couldn’t live without one.
The impacts of drought are leading some to reconsider marketing alternatives for calves. Consider these 5 things before you shift your marketing plan.
Cash fed cattle prices traded mostly steady in what most describe as a disappointing market. Cattle feeders began the week asking higher prices but cash bids of $138 bought most cattle in the South.
One of the first lessons Penn State’s Tara Felix tries to teach newbie dairy beef feeders is that cattle raised for beef need grain, not forage.
Data collected from Alltech’s 11 th annual survey estimates world feed production increased by 2.3% to 1.235 billion metric tons, and the top 10 countries produce 65% of the world’s feed.
APHIS announced it has withdrawn its plan to phase-in mandatory RFID tags for cattle and bison in response to executive orders calling for “transparency.”
Cargill has closed its processing plant in Hazelton, PA, which employs 900 workers, indicating it will reopen when “it is safe” to do so.
The agriculture community often tells consumers to “thank a farmer” but we should be thankful for consumers, writes Kate Miller.