Large commodity index funds, collectively known as managed money, continued to dump long live cattle futures positions in the week ended Tuesday as cattle owners covered their total short positions, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in its weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday.   MANAGED MONEY SELLS CATTLE   Tuesday, managed money had a … Read More

Deciding to feed cattle to heavier weights and produce more choice beef this summer may be tied directly to the difference between choice and select beef prices, said Brenda Boetel, agricultural economist at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, in a letter to Extension agents from the Livestock Marketing Information Center called In The Cattle Markets. … Read More

The USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service Wednesday lowered its 2022 forecast for total red meat and poultry production from last month, as higher forecasts for beef and turkey production was more than offset by lower projections for pork and broilers. The predictions came in the monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report.   HIGHER BEEF … Read More

Female cattle slaughter remains higher than last year and the 2016-2020 average, suggesting US herd liquidation is well underway and continuing, essentially making fed cattle markets long-term bullish, a market analyst said. While federally inspected heifer and total cow slaughter rates are holding above the other two benchmark lines on Livestock Marketing Information Center graphs, … Read More

Nearly all calf buyers want to buy “reputation” livestock, but the roadmap to get there may be clouded. Nearly all stocker operators and feedlots want matched sets of calves that are weaned, castrated, dehorned, familiar with water and feed sources and immunocompetent, said Oklahoma State University Beef Cattle Nutrition Specialist Paul Beck, in a letter … Read More

As live cattle futures prices fell over the last two weeks, so did managed money’s desire to be net long live cattle futures. That would be a valid conclusion from looking at a daily bar chart of cattle futures prices and comparing it to the net positions of major players distributed by the Commodity Futures … Read More

The February USDA Cattle on Feed report said that, of the total number of cattle and calves on feed, about 18% were in feedlots with less than 1,000 head capacity and accounted for about 13% of all cattle marketed, said Elliott Dennis, Extension livestock economist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, in a Livestock Marketing Information … Read More