Latest News From Feedyard

The upcoming PAC Summit for Industry Leaders focuses on leveraging new technology to ease labor constraints, provide opportunities for increased profitability, and improve connections between animals and caregivers.

Every re-treatment puts additional stress on calves and reduces profit due to additional medicine and labor. But waiting too long to re-treat calves that need an additional dose can increase the number of sick calves.

Concerned about consolidation of the feeding industry, R-CALF has asked the FTC and DOJ to investigate the degree of buyer power beef packers exercise over feedlots – in particular, the 77 largest feedlots. 

Midwest PMS will host two workshop training events for feedyard managers and employees to build their operational knowledge and hone their leadership skills.

USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will host a cattle industry listening session to inform the development of a Cattle Contracts Library Pilot Program on Thursday, April 21.

Merck Animal Health has introduced two new tools to bring important cattle health information to cattle producers’ fingertips.

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.

Global beef production is projected to expand in 2022 with increased production in Brazil, China, India, Australia and Mexico offsetting decreased production in the U.S., Canada, the European Union (E.U.) and Argentina.

Checkoff-funded research has helped manage food safety risks over the past decades, influencing many safety interventions that are still in place today.

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.

As the spring thaw in eastern North Dakota continues at a rapid rate, inspecting the dirty-water containment ponds and manure stacking areas daily is an important practice for livestock owners.

The month of March will continue to bring more cooler cleanings on the packer’s part.  This will continue to keep the number of cattle needed by the packer to minimum.

Maps show the severity of drought in eight Central Plains states and where they began 2022 in beef cow numbers. These eight states represent 52% of America's beef cows, and accounted for 67% of last year's herd culling.

Inflation has hit consumers hard and drawn the attention of the national media. With increasing media attention on climate change, do activists see inflation as a way to encourage Americans to reduce beef consumption?

Speculators in the futures markets have a negative portrayal. But opposite sides of the market work in lock-step with one another - producers can’t hedge price risk without speculators on the other side. 

Tyson “Demo Day” will be held virtually on July 11, 2022, with participants invited to demonstrate how their solutions could help create a more sustainable food system.

Beef demand has been strong up to this point but clearly there are more concerns about demand and input prices going forward. There is little choice but to stay tuned and try to remain as flexible as possible.

Cash fed cattle prices came under pressure last week as packer needs were lighter than in recent weeks. Wholesale beef prices have declined resulting in lower margins for processors.

Quality grades set record highs for combined Choice and Prime carcasses during the first five weeks of 2022, slightly higher than last year. Prime grades are down marginally from year-ago at 10% vs. 10.8% last year.

Friday's Cattle on Feed was not expected to create any additional near-term market volatility. Yet, a closer analysis finds heavy front-end numbers along with signals the feeder cattle supply is tightening.

The Cattlemen’s Beef Board (CBB) has released its official 2021 Annual Report including information about projects and results within each of the organization’s program areas.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict produced another set-back for fed cattle last week. The industry is hoping this week will bring less volatility in the markets.

Cash cattle saw average prices move slightly higher for the week while CME futures tumbled lower. USDA’s reported cattle on feed February 1 inventory was the highest for that month in the series going back to 1996.

The strong volumes of fed slaughter suggest the large number of long-fed cattle are being worked through. Tightening supplies are being revealed and demand in the beef market is nothing short of incredible.

The increased use of alternative marketing arrangements has allowed feedlots to spend less effort and energy on guessing the market – and more work dedicated to consistent throughput, Nevil Speer says.

Cattle feeders saw active participation from all packers last week which helped push prices higher for a fourth consecutive week. Prices in the North remain at a premium.

Cash fed cattle prices traded higher for a fourth-consecutive week, reaching the highest average price since August of 2015.

The world’s largest cattle feeder, Five Rivers Cattle Feeding recognizes the importance of being a leader and an advocate for the beef industry – Kuner Feedlot wins 2022 BQA Feedyard Award.

Cattle price and profitability trends for producers are pointed in the right direction, even as challenges and uncertainty persist with continued disruptions from the pandemic.

The slaughter pace last week was the best we’ve seen in 2022, with an estimated Federally Inspected total of 659K. Given the previous week’s disappointing pace due to weather, these are very promising totals.

In the third installment of a who-knows-how-many series, Steve Cornett ruminates about the responses he's gathered from readers who are either for or against Sen. Chuck Grassley's proposed fix for cattle markets.

A level playing field for ranchers when marketing cattle is the most important issue for TSCRA, writes first vice president Arthur Uhl. But mandates on negotiated cattle trade raise more questions than answers.

Cattle feeders in the South saw three packers aggressively buying large numbers of cattle last week. Packers in the North continued to push hard to buy cattle in the eastern side of the region.

In the second installment of this series about the current cattle markets, veteran editor Steve Cornett visits with a Midwestern feeder who helps us understand Senator Grassley's curmudgeonly attitude about packers.

Considering the production factors of the past two years, it’s logical to consider that advances in carcass quality, or higher marbling scores, will be less likely to develop in 2022 than in the previous two years.

This idea of mandating a certain level of cash cattle trade is a bit revolutionary in what has been an evolutionary change in cattle price discovery over these last couple of decades, says veteran editor Steve Cornett.

How can feedlot inventories be above year ago levels if the calf crop has declined the past three years?  The usual flow of feeder cattle over time would suggest that feedlot inventories should have peaked in 2020.

The cash market finally saw some life last week.  Packers seemed to be in more need for cattle and finally were in a position to have to raise bids to get cattle bought. 

The winners of the 2022 Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) Awards, sponsored by Cargill, were announced during the annual Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show, held Feb. 1-3, 2022, in Houston.  

NCBA approved interim policy that removes any doubt about the group's distaste for government to regulate "cattle producers’ freedom of choice to conduct their own business and utilize their own marketing programs.”

AgriTalk host Chip Flory discusses the status of the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act with Senators Deb Fischer and Chuck Grassley.

NCBA's Marketing Committee passes policy suggestion on the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act. The policy will need approval of NCBA's general membership.

SenseHub Feedlot offers those who manage and care for cattle an innovative new approach to detecting illness, including bovine respiratory disease.

Cattle feeders saw nothing new in the live cattle trade last week as packers continued to be on limited head counts once again. 

Production efficiency is key to sustainability including profitability, both at the ranch and for the industry as a whole, but that production efficiency doesn’t end at the ranch gate.

Cattle feeders in all regions saw participation by all packers in last week’s market, with prices mostly steady with the previous week.

Unexpectedly large December feedlot placements pushed feedyard inventories higher year-over-year, while marketings were in-line with pre-report estimates. Placements of lightweight cattle were nearly 10% higher.

Price discovery in today’s fed cattle market “appears to be functioning effectively in even the thinnest regional fed cattle markets,” according to an analysis by University of Arkansas agricultural economists.

Fed cattle markets have seen challenges in January. The Omicron variant is pressuring packing plant efficiency through increased worker absence, resulting in much smaller slaughter totals so far this month.

Absenteeism at major packing plants due to coronavirus has again helped create a backlog of market-ready fed cattle. Packers used that fact to push fed cattle prices lower last week.