Large commodity index funds, known as managed money, decreased their total net long live cattle position during the week ended Tuesday as hedgers trimmed their collective net short position, said the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The CFTC released the data Friday in its weekly Commitments of Traders report.   MANAGED MONEY SELLS CATTLE   As … Read More

When the USDA’s Interagency Agricultural Projections Committee began work on its latest 10-year projections, released in conjunction with its annual Agricultural Outlook Forum, economists may not have predicted Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. USDA economists may not have worked an invasion into their outlooks since one of their basic assumptions is a long-term baseline of stability, … Read More

The COVID pandemic brought greater-than-normal uncertainty to the assumptions the USDA used to come up with its projections for agricultural markets 10 years into the future, the department said in its annual Agricultural Outlook Forum projections. As the Outlook Forum commences in Washington, D.C., today, the department’s Interagency Agricultural Projections Committee released its agricultural projections … Read More

Total red meat supplies in freezers on Jan. 31 were up about 6% from the previous month but were down about 3% from last year, according to the USDA’s monthly Cold Storage report Tuesday. The report also said total frozen poultry supplies were up about 11% from the previous month but down about 10% from … Read More

Large commodity investment firms, called managed money in the trade, increased their collective net long live cattle futures position during the week ended Tuesday as hedgers boosted their total net short position. The data came from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday.   MANAGED MONEY BUYS CATTLE   As of … Read More

Drought this year could affect more than 53% of the total beef cow herd, or roughly 16 million cows, said Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Market Specialist, Derrell Peel, in a letter to Extension agents called Cow-Calf Corner. Significant drought could have more noticeable effects on cow markets, change the timing of feeder cattle placements … Read More

Projecting the number of cattle on feed before the USDA’s monthly report is a tricky thing to do, said Matthew Diersen, SDSU risk and business management specialist in a weekly LMIC newsletter to Extension Agents called In The Cattle Markets. Projecting marketings starts by monitoring estimated and actual slaughter volumes coming in throughout a given … Read More