The USDA’s estimate of 2025 red meat and poultry production was raised in Monday’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report as higher pork and beef production were offset partially by lower poultry production. Changes in the 2025 estimates reflect November production data and preliminary estimates of slaughter numbers and weights for December.   BEEF … Read More

Tuesday, large commodity index funds, known as managed money, had a larger collective net long live cattle futures position than they had a week earlier, while cash cattle traders had a larger total net short position. The data was made available by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in its weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday. … Read More

Considerable variation exists among heifers in their ability to gain weight on moderate-quality forage, and this variation appears largely independent of performance on energy-dense diets, said David Lalman and Bailey Tomson, Oklahoma State University professors of animal and food sciences, in a letter called Cow-Calf Corner. Simple measurements of forage-based weight gain, or well-designed development … Read More

Beef production last year declined along with pork, but beef was the leader, as total pork production was very close to the 2019-2023 average. In fact, weekly beef production last year remained less than the five-year average in all but two weeks.  Pork production, though, tended to vacillate all around the weekly production lines of … Read More

Farmer sentiment weakened slightly in December as the Purdue University-CME Group Ag Economy Barometer Index dropped just three points to a reading of 136, said Michael Langemeier and James Mintert, Purdue University agricultural economists, in a report. The December barometer survey took place from Dec. 1-5.   EXPECTATIONS DOWN   Weakness in the barometer was … Read More

Beef prices have become the federal poster child for high food prices and concerns about consumer affordability, said Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension livestock marketing specialist, in a letter called Cow-Calf Corner. Much political attention resulted last year, focused on high beef prices as part of broader inflationary concerns among numerous food items – … Read More

For the third straight week, large commodity index funds, or managed money, raised their collective net long live cattle futures position as cattle traders boosted their total net short position. The data is for the week ended Tuesday, Dec. 23, as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, catches up with its weekly Commitments of Traders reports.  … Read More