Feeder steer prices shot up last week as movement at auction barns dropped in response to lower prices and news of rapidly climbing feedlot losses, but it likely isn’t a trend. Cow/calf operators were said to be keeping feeder steers and heifers home to avoid selling at a loss for as long as possible.  There … Read More

This summary of the history of beef grading in the US was done by members of the Animal Science department at Texas A&M University, showing it goes back a long way.   EARLY DAYS   After suggestions for grading going back to 1902, Congress appropriated funds for the USDA to study agricultural marketing and to … Read More

The different patterns of boxed beef, fed and feeder cattle prices in the past six weeks illustrates the fact that these markets operate with very distinct dynamics, said Oklahoma State University Agricultural Economist Derrell Peel, in a letter to Extension Agents called Cow/Calf Corner. Those dynamics became very apparent as the distinction between the current … Read More

The Covid-19 Coronavirus dominates the news, prompting state and local governments to shut down commerce and ordering residents to shelter in place.  The US economy has been hit with blunt-force trauma, from which it may take years to recover fully. Protein markets were hit with a demand surge that emptied the meat cases of local … Read More

Live cattle futures trading took on a more bearish tone during the week ended Tuesday as large commodity investment firms, known as managed money, and commercial traders, those who own the cattle, took on larger net short positions. The data came from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday. That data … Read More

Thursday’s USDA Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report is being interpreted bearishly by many market analysts, so lean hog futures prices could trade lower today. The report showed more hogs in the US herd than a pre-release market survey of analysts had expected.  All weight categories and the December-February pig crop exceeded expectations. Christopher Lehner, market … Read More

Beef packers received a windfall as beef prices surged over the last two weeks, so Tyson Foods announced Friday that it would add $5 per cwt to the negotiated live-basis price of fed cattle and $7.94 to the dressed-basis price this week. And, according to the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker published by Drovers, Tyson and … Read More