June’s monthly commercial beef production held above last year where it has been for five of the first six months of the year.  Production has been above the 2012-2016 average all year. Data from the USDA-National Agricultural Statistics Service showed commercial beef production, the sum of Federally Inspected and non-inspected production, totaled 2.30 billion pounds.  … Read More

US equities and agricultural commodities markets surged higher Tuesday amid news reports that trade deals may be coming. Various reports indicate that the US and China may be in very preliminary talks that don’t even rise to the level of negotiations, but traders took heart that at least the phone lines are still connected.  And … Read More

Per capita beef consumption in China is low but rising and facing multiple challenges, said Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist Derrell Peel in the latest “Cow/Calf Corner,” a newsletter to Extension agents. Peel wrote of China’s beef production issues and potential last week and this week tackles his impressions of the country’s beef … Read More

Large commodity investment funds, called managed money, extended their collective net long live cattle futures position during the week ended Tuesday to its largest position in four months, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission data. The data was released Friday in the CFTC’s weekly Commitments of Traders report.  It showed managed money’s new net long … Read More

With new-crop corn prices looking good for cattle feeders this summer, feeder cattle prices have responded well for cow/calf producers, according to the “Livestock Monitor,” a weekly letter to Extension staff from the Livestock Marketing Information Center. Data from the USDA-Agricultural Marketing Service show that prices for 700- to 800-pound medium and large No. 1 … Read More

With more cattle than the US, China’s beef production struggles to keep up, and increasing production was seen by one agricultural economist as challenging. Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, said in the Extension Service’s newsletter “Cow/Calf Corner,” that China’s beef production has the greatest potential to expand in the major agricultural … Read More

The spread between wholesale choice and select beef prices is nearing a critical point where it will make a seasonal low, but predicting just when it will happen is a little like reading the entrails of an economist. The seasonal average pinch point for the 2012-16 weekly average choice/select spread happens in two weeks.  This … Read More