After an unseasonal rise and fall over the summer, the difference between wholesale prices for USDA choice and select beef caught the seasonal trend and is widening again. If the trend continues as per the 2014-2018 average, the choice/select spread, as it is known in the industry, will continue to widen until the first week … Read More

Large commodity investment funds, called managed money, cut their collective net long live cattle futures position in the week ended Tuesday, Oct. 6. At the same time, commercial traders, those who own the cattle and use the futures market primarily for hedging, cut their collective net short position to its lowest point in two months. … Read More

The USDA’s 2020 total red meat and poultry production forecast was raised from last month despite a lower outlook for pork. The data came from the USDA’s monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report Friday. This year’s beef production forecast was raised from the September report on higher expected second-half cattle slaughter, the report … Read More

August sales of fed cattle to beef packers from Kansas feedlots rose again to nudge out year-earlier sales for this year’s monthly high. The data came from a monthly survey of select Kansas feedlots by the Kansas State University Extension Department.  The data was then compiled and extrapolated by the Livestock Marketing Information Center in … Read More

August exports of US beef and pork muscle cuts were above last year’s strong volumes, according to data released by the USDA and compiled by the US Meat Export Federation. Variety meat exports were lower than a year ago, partly because of a lack of available labor required to harvest and export some items, the … Read More

Most of western Oklahoma has received little or no moisture in the past two to three weeks advancing drought conditions once again and threatening winter grazing, said Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, in a letter to Extension Agents called Cow/Calf Corner. From the worst levels in early July, drought conditions in … Read More

A recent report from the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service called “China: Evolving Demand in the World’s Largest Agricultural Import Market,” said from January through July, US agricultural exports to China still were 16%, or $1.3 billion below the same period in 2017, largely because of lagging soybean shipments. The report was published by the Illinois … Read More