Driven by strong consumer demand for dairy products, China’s dairy farming industry is experiencing rapid expansion and increasing herd size, said the USDA’s Foreign Agriculture Service, in a release. Demand for forage products is rising as large, modern dairy farms use more high-quality forages like alfalfa, timothy hay and oat grass, the FAS said.  Imports … Read More

The Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer slipped five points in November to a reading of 116 as producer pessimism about the current and future outlook of the agricultural economy continued, said James Mintert, director of the Purdue University Center for Commercial Agriculture, in a release. The Ag Economy Barometer is calculated each month from … Read More

The USDA’s weekly choice boxed-beef cutout value is declining but, at $273.17 per cwt, remains above last year and the 2015-2019 average, according to the Livestock Marketing Information Center. The LMIC used data from the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service to compile the weekly data and post the results on its web site. Since the cutout … Read More

Large commodity investment firms, known as managed money, raised their collective net long live cattle position in the week ended Tuesday as hedgers boosted their total net short positions. The data came from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday.   FUNDS NET LONG CATTLE   As of Tuesday, managed money … Read More

Cattle markets continue to show gradual strength, allowing optimism for the future, but producers should lay off risk periodically, said Stephen Koontz, agricultural economist at Colorado State University, in a Livestock Marketing Information Center letter to Extension agents called In The Cattle Markets. After the late-August and early September price break, all live cattle futures … Read More

Third-quarter agricultural lending at commercial banks continued to decline but showed some signs of stabilizing, said Economists Nathan Kauffman and Ty Kreitman in a release from the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank. Farm debt decreased at the slowest pace in two years, Kauffman and Kreitman said.  Non-real estate debt declined at a substantially slower rate … Read More

Cattle markets finally seem to be able to move out from under the specter of the pandemic, said Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, Derrell Peel, in a letter to Extension agents called Cow-Calf Corner. A series of Black Swan events kept the industry on the defensive for more than two years, but the … Read More