With the weekly average all-cattle carcass weight hovering around 839 pounds, and fed cattle prices near steady last week at $109 to $111 per cwt, average unhedged feedlot losses were near steady. Sterling Marketing Inc., of Vale, Ore., publishes its Beef and Pork Profit Trackers weekly through Drovers.  The calculated numbers can be thought of … Read More

Given the current demand for beef and the projected production, it might be a good time to invest in some form of cattle and/or beef production business. Things can change the current consumer buying interest for beef, like prices or spendable income or the latest food scare and competition from other proteins, but with projections … Read More

The Livestock Marketing Information Center in Denver predicted Friday in a newsletter to Extension Agents called In The Cattle Markets that national alfalfa price would be above a year ago in 2021. Other hay prices may weaken with normal yields, but the first part of the new marketing year supplies were expected to be tight. … Read More

The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service said Monday in its monthly Cold Storage report that total red meat supplies in freezers on Dec. 31 were up about 1% from its December report but were down about 11% from last year. Total pounds of beef in cold storage were up about 4% from Nov. 30 and … Read More

Managed money, a proxy for large commodity investment funds, augmented their collective net long live cattle futures position in the week ended Tuesday as hedgers increased their net short position. The data came from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday.   FUNDS BOOST LONG CATTLE POSITION   As of Tuesday, … Read More

The USDA’s Foreign Agriculture Service last week revised downward its estimate of 2020/21 Mexican wheat and corn production while boosting slightly the estimate for sorghum production. But US export prospects to fill any production gaps were muddied by a Dec 31 decree calling for a phase-out of the use of glyphosate and genetically modified corn … Read More

The difference between wholesale prices for USDA choice- and select-grade beef, known as the choice/select spread, is widening counter-seasonally, USDA data show. Data from the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service and compiled by the Livestock Marketing Information Center in Denver showed that the choice/select spread last week averaged $11.42 per cwt.  This was up $1.17 per … Read More