Fed Cattle
Next week will be a good one for folks with good internet access and a few free hours who want to see some rhetorical fireworks about cattle price discovery.
Seven years after repeal of mandatory country-of-origin labeling, a proposal has been introduced for the Secretary of Agriculture to “determine a means of reinstating” COOL, despite evidence of “no measurable benefits.”
The tightest market-ready fed cattle supplies of the season in the North are helping to push prices higher for most feedyards.
The coming weeks should fuel interest in high-quality beef cuts for grilling. As the share of harvest-ready calf-feds grows in the fed cattle supply, we anticipate seasonally lower quality grade trends.
There’s irony in R-CALF’s recent Market Reform bill 180-degree about face. The ranch group “presumably figured out what we’ve known all along: the cure is worse than the disease,” writes columnist Nevil Spear.
Groups are calling on USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service to recall any antibioitic-positive beef that was destined for USDA-approved “raised without antibiotics” labeling programs.
Cattle feeders in the South sold cattle throughout the week at steady money while feeders in the North pushed their market a little higher by week’s end.
Regional processing plants are not likely to be an easy success, but we need them so badly. So much more badly than we need crabs-in-a-bucket laws telling big feeders their marketing methods are too efficient to be fair.
A substantial portion of beef advertised as “raised without antibiotics” may, in fact, contain antibiotics, according to research by George Washington University published in Science Magazine.
Feed is a major cost input for all segments of beef production. Feed efficiency is always a primary determinant of profitability, but when feed costs are high, it becomes even more important.
Continued demand for non-GMO feed for livestock will increase greenhouse gas emissions on farms, and raise consumer prices for meat, milk and eggs, according to a study by Iowa State University.
There’s all this energy focused on the “market” – but there’s little emphasis on the “business”, that’s where opportunity gets established.
Two new economic analyses of the U.S. cattle markets suggest Congress “must do more” to implement reforms, says R-CALF USA. University economists note neither study has passed peer-review.
Prices on the South Plains remain locked in a price rut as packers appear to have plenty of inventory. Corn Belt prices remain premium to other regions.
Regarding those cash mandates, now we have NCBA and Farm Bureau saying don’t do it. Don’t need it. And R-CALF apparently saying they won’t settle for such weak tea.
Raising cattle to qualify for the Certified Angus Beef (CAB) brand requires a black hided animal and meeting 10 carcass specifications.
The North American Meat Institute said the latest version of the Grassley-Fischer government mandate bill is now more onerous and more irrelevant as market driven prices for cattle have risen to seven-year highs.
Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is still a serious threat to the economics of beef production accounting for $800 to $900 million in losses from death loss, treatment cost, and reduced production.
Cattle feeders have been more willing to sell finished cattle in recent weeks since corn prices have elevated the ration cost and feed conversion efficiency decreases at the end of the feeding period.
Senators renewed their call for mandatory minimum cash trades for the purchase of fed cattle as they unveiled a revised Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act, and suggested Senate will hold hearings soon.
Four U.S. Senators announced they have introduced a revised Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act and will push for a hearing on the bill by the Senate Agriculture Committee in the coming weeks.
If drought conditions persist, feedlots may continue to borrow against the future with early weaned calves available through the spring and summer before facing the full reality of tighter feeder cattle supplies.
Kansas cattleman and feedyard operator Robert “Bob” E. Foote, Bucyrus, Kansas, passed away March 25 at his home surrounded by loved ones.
Modest packer participation in all regions led to another disappointing week for cattle feeders trying to push the market higher.
Fed cattle trades began the week at steady before finding higher bids late week. Cattle on feed numbers remain high as USDA reported a 9% increase in February placements over last year.
Cattle feeders began last week optimistic that the market trend would be higher, but those ideas were quickly squashed as futures prices began trending lower.
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.
A bi-annual survey of the four largest packers showed a dramatic increase in rewards for the Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) brand. Grid, formula and contract premiums paid on CAB carcasses in 2021 totaled $182 million.
In 2019 Certified Angus Beef reported an aggregate packer CAB premium total of $92 million. By 2021 that total was nearly double, resulting in $182 million in CAB premiums.
Name calling aside, what problem are we really trying to solve? Twenty-two years of data sourced from LMIC tell a compelling story (or lack thereof) about the relationship between cash trade and producer profitability.