As spring weather slowly warms the Northern Hemisphere, the USDA’s boxed beef cutout value of choice, 600- to 900-pound carcasses seems stalled, unable to muster a decent rally, a market analyst said. By now, beef demand should be showing a marked rise in weekly prices for boxed beef at the wholesale level.  Instead, a quick … Read More

Large commodity investment funds, known as managed money, increased their collective net long live cattle futures position during the week ended Tuesday as futures prices sagged. The data came from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report, issued Friday for the week ended the previous Tuesday.   FUNDS GO LONGER   Already … Read More

Most nitrogen fertilizers likely are in place for the 2022 spring crop season in North America, albeit at much higher prices.  However, the continuing Ukraine-Russia war can limit fertilizer supplies for the crops that will be planted in South America later in 2022, leading to further price pushes for fertilizer used in North America for … Read More

The current level of heifers on feed does not suggest heifer retention for herd expansion, said Derrel Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension livestock marketing specialist, in a letter to Extension agents called Cow-Calf Corner. From 2014-2016 in the last herd expansion, the average level of heifers on feed was 33.6%, Peel said.  The total on-feed … Read More

Slaughter cow prices are declining as total US cow slaughter continues to advance unseasonably, USDA data show. The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service reports that federally inspected cow slaughter last week totaled 139,554 head, up 4,470, or 3.31%, from 135,084 a week earlier and up 15,454, or 12.5%, from 124,100 a year earlier.  It also … Read More

Total red meat supplies on March 31 in US freezers were up about 1% from the previous month and up about 9% from last year, the USDA said in its monthly Cold Storage report Friday. Total pounds of beef in freezers were up about 1% from the previous month and up about 11% from last … Read More

Tuesday, large commodity index funds, known as managed money, had expanded their collective net long live cattle position from a week earlier as hedgers enlarged their total net short position. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission released the data Friday in its weekly Commitments of Traders report for activity as of the previous Tuesday.   MANAGED … Read More