Beef by-product values have been well below the 2013-2018 average for the last 18-months, and are preventing any moves toward the five-year average. Beef by-product values, especially hide values, often are considered a bit of a bellwether of global economic conditions, said Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist Derrell Peel, in a letter to … Read More

Kansas feedlot sales of slaughter-ready cattle to packing plants rose in June, a seasonal move that falls well short of last year’s June sales. The data came from a monthly Kansas State University Extension Service survey of selected feedlots around the state, which was compiled and extrapolated by the Livestock Marketing Information Center in Denver … Read More

Growth in the average size of farm operating loans boosted agricultural lending in the second quarter of this year, as did growth in nonperforming loans, said a report by Nathan Kauffman, vice president of the Federal Reserve’s Omaha branch, and Ty Kreitman, assistant economist at the bank. However, the overall increase in financial stress in … Read More

Beef magazine recently ran a series of articles by private industry consultant Nevil Speer in which he discussed the basics of using futures and options to help cattle producers better understand the mechanics of implementing risk management. Beef has graciously allowed us to re-run those articles.  This is the second of the series, edited for … Read More

Large commodity investment firms, known as managed money, nudged their collective net long live cattle futures position higher for the third straight time in the week ended Tuesday, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The data came from the CFTC’s weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday. The report showed that managed money’s … Read More

The USDA’s wholesale spread between the price of choice beef and select beef is at record-wide levels and appears to be widening – likely the result of strong beef demand, said Nevil Speer, industry consultant in Bowling Green, KY. Beef production this year is up, and carcass grading was not hurt going through the harsh … Read More

While there were no great surprises in either the USDA Cattle on Feed or the mid-year Cattle (inventory) reports there were a few items of interest that, taken together, might suggest the cattle herd has been a little overestimated the last couple of years. Texas A&M Extension Economist David Anderson said so in a letter … Read More