Shrinking cattle inventories lead to a wide range of effects on the multi-sectored cattle industry, including rising feeder prices and changes in price relationships that affect economic incentives of the various cattle production sectors. Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension livestock marketing specialist, said in a letter called In The Cattle Markets that as feeder … Read More

Kansas feedlots began 2025 closing out fewer fed steers in January than in either January 2024 or the previous five-year average, according to the Livestock Marketing Information Center in Denver. However, they marketed more fed heifers in January than in the same month last year or in the 2019-2023 average. The data came from a … Read More

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission reported Friday in its weekly Commitments of Traders report that large commodity investment firms continued to carve chunks off their collective net long live cattle futures position. At the same time, commercial traders continued to reduce their total net short live cattle position.   FUNDS SELL LONG POSITIONS   Those … Read More

Absent other important fundamental or technical factors, critical decision points in futures market tend to hinge on round numbers.  At the very least, such numbers often generate a lot of attention. The Mar live cattle contract broke through the $200.00-per-cwt barrier on Jan. 23, generating more attention as prices surged to a contract high of … Read More

Total red meat supplies in US freezers on Jan. 31 were up about 3% from the previous month but down about 6% from last year, said the monthly Cold Storage report from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service Wednesday. Total frozen poultry supplies on Jan. 31 were up about 5% from the previous month but … Read More

Friday’s USDA-NASS Cattle on Feed report pegged the Feb. 1 feedlot inventory of those with 1,000 or more capacity at 11.716 million head, down 0.7% from a year ago. January fed cattle marketings were 101.4% of one year ago and placements were 101.7% of last year. The report also contained a summary of 2024 feedlot … Read More

Weekly average USDA choice 600- to 900-pound boxed beef prices are falling counter-seasonally amid marketplace ideas that consumer demand is fading. To be clear, the weekly average price listed by the USDA remains higher than last year and well above the 2019-2023 average, but it is falling.   WORRYING TO CATTLE, BEEF PRODUCERS   The … Read More