Cattle feeders appear to be selling finished cattle to packer buyers at a lower level of finish, or fatness, the opposite of what was taking place as late as the first quarter of this year. Dressed weights of slaughter steers are down from a year ago, and the gap continues to widen, indicating that cattle … Read More

Large investment funds, called managed money, trimmed their net long position in live cattle futures for the second straight week during the week ended Tuesday as futures made a short-term peak and moved lower. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, in its weekly Commitment of Traders report Friday, said managed money’s net long live cattle position … Read More

Disappointing cash cattle markets this week, ample supplies of market-ready cattle along with abundant stocks of competing meats pressured live cattle futures this week to three consecutive contract lows in the most-active Dec contract, and the carnage may not be done. Now, the market must deal with bearish momentum, which could add a fourth day … Read More

The USDA Wednesday reduced its estimate of this year’s total red meat and poultry production by 113 million pounds, or 0.12%, to 97.439 billion pounds from its estimate of 97.552 billion last month. However, all of the cuts came in a reduced estimate of chicken production, as the forecasts for total beef and pork production … Read More

Feedlot margins faded deeper into the red last week as fed cattle prices dipped.  At the same time, packer margins were calculated to have risen for the same reason. The Sterling Beef Profit Tracker by John Nalivka, president of Sterling Marketing Inc., and published by AgWeb, had feedlot margins for unhedged cattle sold last week … Read More

Managed money and commercial traders sold live cattle futures positions in the week ended Tuesday, a move that signals a more bearish attitude among traders. In its weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said that as of Tuesday, managed money, or large commodity funds, had a net long live cattle … Read More

Cattle and beef supply challenges mean producer and lender caution is warranted, but all is not lost, said Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University extension livestock marketing specialist in a market comment. Growth in cattle inventories and beef production do not constitute a wreck, and paralyzing fear that cripples decision making may prevent producers from taking … Read More