Fed Cattle
Cow-calf producers have a number of factors to consider when weighing the decision of retained ownership.
Finding a feedlot partner helps ranchers share information and profits
Despite cattle prices being lower than year-ago levels, of the major livestock markets beef has weathered the storm better than poultry or pork.
Stuck in neutral for six weeks, cash fed cattle prices broke through the ice with a solid rally. Calf prices were uneven.
For the fifth straight month a record for Cattle on Feed was eclipsed after an increase of 5.2% since Oct. 1, 2017.
It appears that herd expansion has slowed down as beef production forecasts have been lowered by analysts at USDA.
Demand remains strong for feeder cattle with auction prices steady to $2 higher.
The September record for cattle on feed was set after increasing 5.6% year-over-year and reaching more than 11.1 million head. This is the fourth month straight a monthly record has been set.
In November, U.S. feedlots set a record for 1.87 million head marketed, the highest Dec. 1 total since the series began recording in 1996.
After a software error caused beef carcasses to be inaccurately reported for grades and weights, JBS is a paying a fine and reimbursing producers who were impacted.
Following the trend seen in fed cattle during the past few months, a market analyst expects limited volatility during the 1st quarter of 2019.
Cattle markets have been keeping pace in early 2019 compared to the same first quarter period in 2017 and 2018.
The beef cattle trade has been highlighting this winter’s weather market for several weeks now, but the impact from last week’s bomb cyclone the cattle feeding belt has escalated problems for cattle performance.
Following the shutdown, fundamental information is slowly returning to normal. The February Cattle on Feed report was released last Friday, with the March report scheduled for its normal date of March 22.
The sale of Kane Beef is scheduled to close Feb. 22, 2019, and operations are expected to resume “as soon as practical,” the new owner says.
Every cowboy from Ames to Amarillo was convinced the cattle market is headed higher, but packers held out on raising bids until late Friday.
Cattle on Feed estimates for April 1, 2019, were 2% higher than the same month a year ago.
Weather continues to have an influence on the cattle market as adverse weather like the most recent “bomb cyclone” to hit the Midwest slow the rate that fed cattle are finished.
Heading into the start of summer grilling season cattle markets appear to be on the same trendline as 2018.
The share of Prime carcasses has more than doubled in the past 5 years, spelling greater availability and consequential wider usage among end users.
Crop protein content ties for lowest in decades on bad weather.
Temperatures seen 15 to 25 degrees below normal, NWS says.
Fireworks are often reserved for Independence Day on July 4th, but for cattle markets they help describe meteoric rises and sudden bursts in prices.
A Kansas cattle buyer and his company have been cleared of all criminal charges after a federal judge found prosecutors did not present enough evidence at trial for the case to go to the jury.
CME cattle futures followed Thursday’s limit up trading with solid gains again in action Friday. The nearby October contract closed up $2.12 at $101.15.
Volatile cattle markets have impacted the industry over the past year. To help the situation, industry leaders have tried to shorten the trading hours and address high frequency trading. A group of cattle operators are doing business a different way in an open cash market with an online live auction.
Both fed cattle and feeder cattle markets traded at softer prices for the week.
Winter weather could continue to help drive cattle prices higher.
Fed cattle led the parade with cash prices $3 to $4 per cwt higher.
The volume of cattle and calves sold the week ended Jan. 13 was called the second largest in five years, with prices steady to uneven.