Managed money, or large commodity funds, boosted their net long position in live cattle futures during the week ended Tuesday for the second straight week. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in its weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday that for the week ended Tuesday, managed money held a net long position of 39,096 contracts, … Read More

Just past the half-way point in getting this fall’s calf crop marketed, the price weakness has been an eye-opener to Stephen Koontz, agricultural and resource economist at Colorado State University. Writing for the Livestock Marketing Information Center’s In the Cattle Markets, Koontz said, “I have spoken to producers that sold calves in October who received … Read More

USDA’s October Cattle on Feed report possessed some important implications about feeder cattle supply, said Nevil Speer, vice president of US operations for AgriClear Inc., a sholly owned subsidiary of TMX Group Ltd., in an article for Beef Magazine. What’s more, the coming on-feed report scheduled for Nov. 18 could be very important in terms … Read More

The question of why beef packers are paying higher prices for fed cattle and boosting the slaughter rate in spite of higher slaughter weights can be summed up in one word – profits. Estimates made by John Nalivka, president of Sterling Marketing Inc., and author of the weekly Sterling Beef Profit Tracker, point to very … Read More

Analysts debate the outlook for fed cattle prices for the rest of the year, with leaning slightly bullish and others expecting a continued bearish slide. Some market analysts said they expect to see steady to slightly stronger prices for the rest of the year and that the market’s low may have been set two weeks … Read More

Managed money, or large commodity investment funds, boosted their net long live cattle futures positions to 29,725 contracts during the week ended Tuesday, their largest position since the week ended Aug. 23 when it dipped to 40,932. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday also said managed money’s new net long … Read More

Amid rising supplies, feeder cattle prices continue to fade counter-seasonally, but trying to predict a bottom isn’t possible. Average USDA-reported prices for 700- to 800-pound medium and large No. 1 feeder steers in the Southern Plains last week averaged $123.06 per cwt, down only $0.17, or 0.14%, from $123.23 the previous week.  The average price … Read More