It’s all over the news, especially in cattle country:  The US Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings this week looking at examining what many see as a lack of competition in the cattle markets. Whether anything comes of the hearings, or if legislated changes turn out to be good for the industry, independent cattle producers, packers … Read More

Non-land costs for 2022 corn and soybean production were projected to be at record highs, said University of Illinois Economists Gary Schnitkey, Krista Swanson and Nick Paulson in a report for the Illinois farmdocdaily. Such “reasonably optimistic projections” could be made for 2022 corn and soybean returns based on projected corn and soybean prices being … Read More

Matthew Diersen, risk and business management specialist for the Ness School of Management and Economics, South Dakota State University, said, “There are several ways to manage price risk when marketing cattle.” Some producers spread out sale dates, while others use forward contracts, Diersen said in a newsletter to Extension agents from the Livestock Marketing Information … Read More

Large commodity index funds, called managed money, continued to sell live cattle futures during the week ended last Tuesday as hedgers covered short positions, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed.   FUNDS GET SHORTER CATTLE   The weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday showed managed money last Tuesday with a collective net long … Read More

Friday’s USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service semi-annual Cattle inventory report confirmed what traders already knew – the US herd is declining cyclically. The report said that all cattle and calves in the US on July 1 totaled 100.9 million head, 1% fewer than the 102.2 million a year earlier.  This compares with the most recent … Read More

The USDA Thursday said in its monthly Cold Storage report that total red meat supplies in freezers were down about 4% from the June report and down 8% from last year. Total frozen poultry supplies on June 30 were up about 2% from the previous month but down about 15% from a year ago.  Total … Read More

Based on average interest rates for agricultural loans, the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank says the outlook for the agricultural economy this year remains strong. In a release, bank economists Nathan Kauffman and Ty Kreitman said, “Interest rates on agricultural loans made by commercial banks increased slightly for some types of lending but remained historically … Read More