Many farm kids grew up with the long, hot summer job of painting the barn. But a project to from Certified Angus Beef (CAB) is putting the fun back into what used to be a chore.
The great states of Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming haven’t disappointed. The adventure thus far, has provided our boys opportunity to learn about cow-calf operations, large-scale hay and Colorado agriculture.
As grain prices remain fairly stagnant, momentum is gaining in the cattle complex. Cattle futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) are on fire this week after hitting contract highs. It’s the livestock sector carrying agriculture’s balance sheet the latter half of 2017 - a trend that could continue to wrap up the year.
What should have been good news for the grain and oilseed markets ended up having the opposite effect as we ended the week down, sharply down some cases says Jerry Gulke, president of the Gulke Group.
Prices were higher for all classes of cattle for the week ended Oct. 13, with cash fed cattle trading at $111 per cwt., $2 higher. Cattle sold on a dressed basis at $175 per cwt., $2 to $3 higher.
Following two days of falling cattle futures prices, Joe Vaclavik, president of Standard Grain, is calling the market moves a knee-jerk reaction to the latest Cattle on Feed report from the USDA.