Total red meat supplies in US freezers as of July 31 were up 3% from a month earlier and up 6% from last year, and total frozen poultry supplies were up 1% from June 30 and up 5% from a year earlier, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service said today. The monthly Cold Storage report … Read More

As US cow/calf producers transition into activities related to the end of summer and the beginning of fall, Josh Maples, assistant professor and Extension economist at Mississippi State University weighed in on the overriding themes of the cattle market. Maples expressed his views in a weekly letter to Extension agents through the Livestock Marketing Information … Read More

It’s impossible to tell how China’s discovery of African Swine Fever in its hog herd will affect US/China trade in pork, corn or soybeans, but market analysts said it seems likely that something will change. As China deals with its third case of ASF, some US commodities traders and analysts responded to email questions about … Read More

After moving higher for nine straight weeks, managed money’s net long live cattle futures position dipped in the week ended Tuesday, even as commercial traders’ net short position continued to grow. The data was released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Friday in the weekly Commitments of Traders report. The data showed that managed … Read More

The Labor Day holiday is approaching, marking the traditional official end to the summer grilling season.  Retail grocers needing to secure beef to plug inventory gaps for the holiday features are finalizing their orders, and the beef market appears to be sagging seasonally. Seasonally, demand for the total carcass tends to wane as the seasonality … Read More

With a little help from Midwest weather conditions through harvest, US cattle feeders could see their way clear to continue paying up for feeder cattle. Affordable feed prices have been acclaimed as the basis for strong feeder cattle prices this year in spite of increased supplies from a larger total US cattle herd.  Economists and … Read More

The US cattle herd is well into a transition to very modest growth from one of active herd expansion, but what does this imply for the cattle industry? Tuesday, the subject of the industry’s cyclical change was discussed with a review of the first half of a mid-year review and outlook by the Denver-based Livestock … Read More