Feeder cattle prices are trending lower in the long run as prices this week struggle to maintain average values. The effect of rising supplies of feeder cattle is being seen in a graph of feeder cattle prices.  Prices last year responded by moving lower as cattle were pulled off pastures that were going dormant and … Read More

As a relatively mild spring changes suddenly into a very hot summer in the Plains, feedlot cattle can be stressed, leading to poor weight gains and even death. Weather forecasts have temperatures into the upper 90s Fahrenheit across most of Kansas, and with recent rains, it will feel like 105 to 115 degrees.   SUSCEPTIBILITY … Read More

The value of beef hides and offal continues to march along at levels that are far below average, but they may cross above last year soon, if only temporarily. The total value of those products, the so-called “drop credit” or the “drop,” the last week of June was reported by the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service … Read More

Large commodity funds, called managed money, continued to divest themselves of nearby live cattle positions during the week ended Tuesday, June 28, taking them to the lowest net long position in almost five months. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, in its weekly Commitments Of Traders report, also said commercial traders, those who actually handle the … Read More

Forage availability could go up this winter as more acres of grass and alfalfa hay are harvested than last year. According to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service Acreage report Thursday, farmers and ranchers intend to harvest 56.127 million acres of grass or alfalfa hay.  This is up 1.69 million, or 3.10%, from 54.437 million … Read More

Live cattle prices are working lower, an event Andrew Griffith, agricultural economist at the University of Tennessee calls “the summer wall.” Griffith added in a weekly comment that prices are hitting this wall hard as feedlots pull cattle forward at a time when cash cattle prices struggle seasonally.  Fed cattle are coming to market in … Read More

World markets continue to spin with the what-ifs of the unexpected Brexit vote in Britain on Thursday. That is mostly because no one has any idea of where this will go and what an EU minus the UK will look like, nor do they have any idea of how many more countries will divorce themselves … Read More