Cattle feeding margins rose $16.54 a head last week to $38.14 from $21.60 the previous week, a gain of 76.6%, according to the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker, published by AgWeb. Last week’s margins for unhedged feeders was up even from those of a month earlier when it was $35.80 a head, the profit tracker said.  … Read More

Should the beef cow herd stabilize near current levels, as it appears now, the cattle slaughter mix could return to long-term averages next year, said Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University extension livestock marketing specialist. Writing for Extension agents, Peel said 2018 cattle slaughter was projected at 33.15 million head, with steer slaughter at 51.3% of … Read More

Lower stocks of pork in cold storage as of Oct. 31 overran increases in frozen beef inventories to take total red meat supplies lower, said the monthly Cold Storage report from the USDA’S National Agricultural Statistics Service Friday. At the same time, total pounds of poultry in cold storage were up from a year ago.  … Read More

Global food prices next year face a triple threat from extreme weather, the US-China trade war and livestock disease, according to a Rabobank study published by the Financial Times. The Times article said the bank’s annual outlook for the new year said geopolitical tension, El Nino (a warming of equatorial Pacific Ocean waters) and the … Read More

There is little arguing the effect strong beef demand has had on the fed cattle market this year, underpinning prices in the face of active slaughter and more beef production, but the party may be nearing a seasonal end. In a market analysis for Beef magazine, Cattle and Beef Industry Consultant Nevil Speer said the … Read More

Managed money, a proxy for large commodity investment funds, reduced its cumulative net long live cattle futures position in the week ended Tuesday to 51,177 contracts from 59,929, said the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The CFTC revealed the statistics in its weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday.  The decline amounted to 8,752 contracts, or 14.6%.  … Read More

The USDA’s Economic Research Service lowered its 2018 beef production forecast by 30 million pounds to 26.9 billion pounds from its estimate a month ago. The forecast, contained in the ERS’ monthly Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook Thursday, went on to say the mild revision was based on numbers at the close of the third … Read More