Large commodity investment funds, called managed money by the trade, increased their collective net long live cattle futures position during the week ended Monday, Dec. 31, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in its Commitments of Traders report Tuesday. The CFTC said the report was halted by the partial government shutdown and said it planned … Read More

Large commodity investment funds, called managed money by the trade, increased their collective net long live cattle futures position during the week ended Monday, Dec. 24, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in its Commitments of Traders report Friday. The CFTC said prior to Friday’s report, the last Commitments of Traders report was done Friday, … Read More

Kansas feedlot sales to packers in December rose seasonally but remained between those of December 2017 and the 2012-2016 average, according to data from Kansas State University and compiled by the Livestock Marketing Information Center in Denver. The K-State Extension Service gathers closeout, or sales data from select Kansas feedlots for the previous month, and … Read More

Data from the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service are giving few clues about the possible direction of feeder cattle prices in the short term. Prices for 700- to 800-pound feeder steers in the Plains typically decline into mid- to late February before bottoming for the year.  From there, they move unevenly higher into late July or … Read More

Cattle feeders and packer buyers could be talking on civil terms with each other this week after estimated margins for both rose last week. Returns for packers and unhedged feedlots improved last week, with feed yard closeouts up $12.30 per head from the previous week to $94.88, and packer margins up $41.57 a head to … Read More

There is such a thing as economy of scale in farming, according to a USDA Economic Research Service report on the status of US farms as of late December. Non-family farms only totaled 44,010 properties, or 2.2% of the total number of US farms.  But these farms produce about 12.6% of total annual farm output … Read More

Last week’s fed cattle basis is just wide enough in the right direction to expect a few deliveries on the February CME Group live cattle futures contract, a cattle feedlot manager said Monday. Many things play into a decision to deliver or not to deliver, but the main consideration for many is the basis, or … Read More