Cattle feeding margins are headed lower as packer margins are working higher, and market analysts are blaming the rising cost of corn for squeezing feedlot costs. Drovers reported that the Sterling Profit Tracker estimated that cash fed cattle prices held near steady at about $115.40 per cwt last week, but average cattle feeding margins dipped … Read More

For the second straight month, agricultural producer sentiment experienced a big decline as the Purdue University Ag Economy Barometer fell 14 points in May to a reading of 101. Purdue University Agricultural Economists James Mintert and Michael Langemeier said in a report to the CME Group that the sentiment decline again was the lowest since … Read More

Jun and Aug live cattle futures delivery contracts are weak and appear to be headed lower, even though there are indications the market should be finding at least a temporary floor soon. At the moment, it looks like beef packers would be interested in buying Jun live cattle futures since the Jun delivery month is … Read More

Managed money, a proxy for large commodity investment funds, liquidated even more of their collective net long live cattle futures position during the week ended Tuesday, taking their position to its lowest point since Nov. 27. The information came in the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday where it said managed … Read More

The US/China trade war doesn’t seem to have caused a lot of pain for US consumers, but after 117 months of expansion, compared with the average of 48, the US economy may be due for a setback that will be linked to the dispute, said two economists writing for Project Syndicate and reported in Seeking … Read More

Hogs had the largest increase in productivity over the last 25 years, using a simple-to-compute measure of livestock productivity that allows comparison across livestock species, according to a study published in the University of Illinois’ Farmdocdaily. Carl Zulauf, Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economic at Ohio State University, did the study, explaining that production … Read More

Chicago corn futures shot higher again Tuesday as planting worries mounted and trade issues seemed no nearer a solution.  As a result, feeder cattle futures dropped. Keith Good, social media manager for the University of Illinois’ Extension Service newsletter, FarmDoc, said, “With June just days away, producers are sorting through both known and significant unknown … Read More