Managed money, a proxy for large commodity investment funds, made further cuts to their net long live cattle position in the week ended Tuesday, while commercial traders made a minor extension to their net short position. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday for the week ended Tuesday said that managed … Read More

It may be difficult for cattle feeders to maintain the market strength to push prices higher than the seasonal top set the first week of November. In that week, the weighted average fed cattle price was $124.70 per cwt on a live basis, according to the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service and compiled by the Denver-based … Read More

The stocker industry is difficult to define, understand, or even identify, data from an Oklahoma State University/USDA survey showed. Earlier this year, OSU, in conjunction with USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the National Agricultural Statistics Service, conducted a survey of Oklahoma cattle producers.  Derrell Peel, OSU Extension livestock marketing specialist, wrote of … Read More

US commercial beef and pork production rose in October, sending more meat into the market or commercial freezers, yet prices for both held above last year, although beef did a better job of it. October beef production totaled 2.3 billion pounds, up 80 million, or 3.60%, from 2.22 billion in September and the second-largest production … Read More

Large commodity investment funds, known as managed money, cut their collective net long live cattle futures position for the second straight week, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The CFTC released the data for the week ended last Tuesday in its weekly Commitments of Traders report Monday.  The report was delayed from … Read More

Higher-than-expected US 2017 cow/calf producer returns may erode for the next two years, possibly dropping into the red, if beef demand falters in any way, said the Livestock Marketing Information Center. In its “Livestock Monitor,” the LMIC said cyclically, US calf crops are forecast to continue increasing throughout 2019.  Beef tonnage for 2018 was expected … Read More

Total red meat supplies in US freezers on Oct. 31 were down about 1% from a month earlier, but were down 2% from last year as beef poundage rose about 2% from October but fell 5% from 2016. The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service issued the data in its November Cold Storage report and added … Read More