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

Large commodity investment firms, known as managed money, reversed course and expanded their collective net long live cattle position during the week ended Tuesday as hedgers extended their collective net short position. The data came from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Commitments of Traders report Friday.   FUNDS PUSH LONG CATTLE POSITION   By Tuesday, … Read More

Last week’s sharp drop in boxed beef values whacked 32% off estimated beef packer gross profits, but they still are thought to be making more than $300 for each fed steer slaughtered. The calculations came from the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker, out of Sterling Marketing Inc., published by Drovers. But cash cattle prices also declined … Read More