Weekly female beef cow slaughter approached 750,000 head more than a year ago last week, said the Livestock Marketing Information Center in a letter to Extension agents called Livestock Monitor.   HEIFER KILL UP   Total heifer slaughter through the week ended Oct. 1 was 364,000 head more than last year, while beef cow slaughter … Read More

Cash fed cattle prices last week were up a couple of dollars per cwt on a live basis as packer buyers searched for enough choice-grading carcasses to fill their orders, a market analyst said. Feedlot showlists are thinning, especially for the kind of cattle the buyer wants.  This is giving the seller more leverage in … Read More

Large commodity index funds, known as managed money, went big in live cattle futures during the week ended Tuesday while hedgers extended their total net short position, according to the weekly Commitments of Traders report from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Friday.   FUNDS GET MUCH LONGER CATTLE   The COT report lists the collective … Read More

The Louisiana Farm Bureau News reported in May that 65% of US agricultural exports go through the Port of New Orleans, so saying the Mississippi River is important to the US seems an understatement. The data implies that nearly two thirds of US agricultural exports depart through this one port, so the near-record low water … Read More

Larger operating loans continued to boost farm lending activity at rural banks in the third quarter, said Kansas City Federal Reserve Economists Nate Kauffman and Ty Kreitman in a quarterly report. The volume of non-real estate farm loans increased by more than 10% for the third straight quarter, Kauffman and Kreitman said.  Operating loans accounted … Read More

There is no relief in sight for high feed costs, said Matthew Diersen, risk and Business management specialist at South Dakota State University in a letter to Extension agents from the Livestock Marketing Information Center called In The Cattle Markets.   STORAGE & INTEREST COSTS   With higher interest rates, the cost of storage becomes … Read More

Total red meat supplies in freezers on Sep. 30 were up about 1% from the previous month and up about 17% from last year, according to the USDA’s monthly Cold Storage report Monday. Frozen pork supplies were down slightly from the previous month but up about 14% from last year. Total frozen poultry supplies were … Read More