Having the border with Mexico closed is changing the landscape of US cattle feeding, if only for a little while. Cattle imports from Mexico were shut off last year to control the spread of New World Screwworm into the US herd where it has been absent since the 1960s.  The lack of feeder cattle to … Read More

Cull cow prices just keep going higher, and the general trend likely will continue – at least for another few weeks. History shows that there is a definite seasonality to cull cow prices, and there is no reason to think this year will be any different.   COW PRICES CLIMBING   USDA weekly slaughter cow … Read More

The cattle markets started the summer moving into record-high price territory, reported Stephen Koontz, agricultural economist at Colorado State University, in a Livestock Marketing Information Center letter called In The Cattle Markets. The five-market weighted average cash fed cattle price pushed past $225 per cwt while prices in the Southern Plains were around $220, Koontz … Read More

Kansas feedlot marketings of slaughter-ready steers in April rose from May, a move that was unseasonal yet followed last year’s pattern, according to Kansas State University Extension service data published by the Livestock Marketing Information Center in Denver. The K-State Extension Service collects performance and activity data from a select group of feedlots, turns it … Read More

The number of cattle on feed in Canada’s feedlots on June 1 continued their seasonal decline, nearly intersecting last year’s declining line on a line graph but remaining well below the 2019-2023 average. The data came from Canfax, a division of the Canadian Cattle Association, through the Livestock Marketing Information Center in Denver.  Canfax collects … Read More

Managed money, a proxy for large commodity index funds, increased their collective net long live cattle futures position in the week ended Tuesday as cattle owners boosted their total net short position. The data came from the weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.   FUNDS BOOST LONG CATTLE POSITION … Read More

The USDA’s new total US red meat and poultry production forecast for 2025 was lowered from last month, said its latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Report Thursday. For 2026, the red meat and poultry production forecast was raised on higher beef and turkey production estimates.   2025 BEEF PRODUCTION SEEN LOWER   The beef … Read More