Feedyard
After several days of up and downs in CME futures prices, cattle feeders saw their chances of getting back to steady slip away on Thursday as the board sold off.
Does the beef industry need additional packer slaughter capacity? Recent history suggests cattle prices were highest when packing capacity utilization was lowest, but the answer is complex.
Cash fed cattle traded at $113 per cwt. for the week, $2 lower. Cattle sold on a dressed basis at firm prices of $182 per cwt.
Current wholesale beef values are lower year-over-year, but it’s too early to gauge what impact the COVID-19 virus has had on both export and domestic beef demand.
If there was ever a question of how much outside influence there is on the cattle market it was completely exposed this past week with fears over the coronavirus growing.
At a 50,000-head feed yard, there are all types of cattle. But one Kansas cattle feeder knows that no matter the class and kind, they all do better with some TLC.
We often consider the saving or revenue opportunity from technology, but this data reveal where the unexpected opportunity lies in the middle, preventing unnecessary treatment or finding calves we didn’t know were ill.
The coronavirus is another “black swan” that is different in some fundamental ways from other such events in cattle markets, such as the packing plant fire last year or even the first BSE case in late 2003.
Cattle on feed data shows the largest number of cattle in feedlots during February since 2008, while placements were 99.4% of year ago, a little smaller than expected.
Cattle traded in the south early in the week at $1 higher prices, suggesting packers were hungry for inventory.
Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 11.9 million head on February 1, 2020.
Over the past five years carcasses grading Choice represent 82% of slaughter, and carcass weights are also on a steady trend higher which is a cautionary sign for cattle feeders.
If investors continue to find value in the live cattle market, producers may see a run in the board that could carry over into the live cattle trade.
USDA’s latest carcass weights data show steers 12 pounds heavier than last year and heifers 13 pounds heavier than last year, resuming a higher trend after moderating the past three years.
Growing more pounds of beef efficiently makes sense for everybody from ranch to consumer, according to a longtime South Dakota feedyard nutritionist.
CattleFax sees positive cattle outlook for 2020; predicts focus on consumers a requirement for continued beef industry success.
Packers need cattlemen, cattlemen need packers. Cargill Protein VP Glen Dolezal discusses what consumers are demanding and how they’re working with their rancher suppliers.
Bruce Cobb has been named executive vice president of production for Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB), and assumes his new duties on March 1, 2020.
Packers didn’t show much interest in pursuing additional inventory last week, and the result was a cash market that traded $1 lower.
USDA’s annual Cattle report revealed slightly lower cattle numbers, but the decline was not as large as some analysts expected.
You can’t look at a pen of feedyard cattle and know which ones have liver abscesses. Even technologies like ultrasound or blood tests don’t uncover it, but it costs the industry $60 million annually.
GrowSafe Systems Ltd. announced the inaugural release of The 2020 Top 150 Proven Bulls, which includes all bulls with a 0.6 accuracy rating for their RFI EPD.
Last Monday the cattle market felt the same negativity as all other markets with the uncertainty of what may happen to global trade due to the effects of the coronavirus.
As a new decade begins, the beef industry’s voice must become one if producers are to benefit from the many opportunities presented today while confronting numerous challenges.
Science may say beef production is carbon neutral, that animal welfare is the best it’s ever been, but for consumers in an era of skepticism, science is just another person’s opinion.
The market is sitting in a holding position in this mid $120’s range, and the movement is anticipated to remain flat for the short-term.
The latest monthly cattle on feed report showed the January 1 inventory in feedlots (over 1,000 head) at 11.958 million head, 102.3 percent of one year ago. This is the largest January on-feed total since 2008.
While the CME futures was under distress last week, hedgers were able to receive the best basis they have seen for several weeks and the result was a steady cash market.
Performance Livestock Analytics (PLA) and Top Dollar Angus are partnering to help seedstock and commercial cattlemen simplify data entry and capture more value from their management decisions.
A series of workshops for feedyard managers and employees will be held in Kansas and Nebraska next month that will provide practical tips and strategies for successful feedyard operation.