Per-capita third-quarter US beef consumption reached 15.6 pounds, an amount not seen since 2009, as production rose to make up for lost time as the pandemic surged in April and May, said the USDA’s monthly Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Outlook report. However, per-capita disappearance was expected to recede through the rest of 2020 and through … Read More

As they do year after year, feedlot managers will manage and balance a multitude of factors in 2021, said Oklahoma State University Livestock Marketing Specialist Derrell Peel in a letter to Extension agents called Cow/Calf Corner. Feedlots will deal with things like winter weather, rising feed costs, the mix of steers and heifers and the … Read More

The Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer dropped 16 points to a reading of 167 in November, down from its all-time high set a month earlier as pessimism rose after the elections, said James Mintert, Purdue University agricultural economist in a release about the barometer and the survey that provided the data. The decrease was … Read More

Managed money, a proxy for large commodity investment firms, extended their collective net long live cattle futures position in the week ended last Tuesday, Nov. 24, as hedgers nudged their collective net short position higher. The data came from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Commitments of Traders report, which came out a day late on … Read More

Weekly federally inspected dressed cattle weights look to close out the year above last year and the 2014-2018 average without ever crossing below either line. Data from the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service and National Agricultural Statistics Service, that have been compiled by the Livestock Marketing Information Center in Denver show that weekly FI cattle dressed … Read More

Cattle feeding margins went up last week, compared to the week before, but beef packer margins went up even more, although both are in the black, according to the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker, from Sterling Marketing Inc., and published by Drovers. The calculated unhedged feedlot margin for fed steers last week was 95.80 a head, … Read More

An influx of government payments and higher prices for agricultural commodities provided greater support for farm finances in the third quarter and seemed to limit demand for financing, said the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in a release. Despite some improvements in the agricultural economy, farm income and repayment rates remained low during the … Read More