Estimated feedlot margins for unhedged fed cattle sold to packers, or marketed, last week rose about $18 a head from the previous week, despite rising costs, according to the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker from Sterling Marketing Inc., and published by the Farm Journal’s Ag Web. The estimated packer margin for cattle purchased last week was … Read More

Current data are giving mixed signals about how US cattle herd inventories have changed this year, said Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension livestock marketing specialist in a letter to Extension agents. Many will be watching the report closely as they reset their marketing strategies for 2021.   COW/HEIFER DYNAMICS AFFECT HERD CHANGES   Historically, … Read More

Managed money, a proxy for large commodity index funds, extended their collective net long live cattle futures position as of Monday, while hedgers increased their collective net short position, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Monday in its weekly Commitments of Traders report. The report usually comes out on Friday publishing positions as of the … Read More

The December Cattle on Feed report was supportive to 2021 cattle markets, showing the US cattle industry is back where it started a year ago with Dec. 1 feedlot inventories about equal to last year, said Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist Darrell Peel in a newsletter to Extension Agents called Cow/Calf Corner. November … Read More

The US inventory of all hogs and pigs on Dec. 1 totaled 77.5 million head, down about 1% from Sep. 1 and Dec. 1, 2019, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service said Wednesday in its Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report. Declines were shown in the breeding inventory and in the market hog inventory.  Because of … Read More

Total frozen red meat supplies were down about 2% on Nov. 30 from a month earlier and down about 12% from last year, the USDA said in its monthly Cold Storage report Tuesday. Beef stocks were up while pork inventories declined, the report said. An analyst said beef stocks go along with what the US … Read More

Many US feedlots are thought to be up to date with their marketings of fed cattle, but unless they are growing cattle larger than they were last year on purpose, there may still be some that are not current. Average live cattle and dressed carcass weights are higher than a year earlier, and they are … Read More