The pork cutout value certainly is high, and it’s up in spite of high production, but the cutout is not out of line with historical averages. As of the last week in June, the cutout was not quite up to the 2011-2015 average, even though production continued to run above last year and the 2011-2015 … Read More

Managed money, or large commodity investment funds, cut their net long live cattle futures position in the week ended Tuesday as cattle owners trimmed their net short position. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission made the revelation in its weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday. Managed money’s new live cattle futures position as of Tuesday was … Read More

It was a record high, but since much of Thursday’s quarterly Hogs and Pigs report from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service came in near expectations, little market reaction was expected in Friday’s futures trade. At 71.65 million head, total hog inventories in the US were the highest June 1 inventory since records began in … Read More

Estimated Kansas feedlot closeouts for May were up, which was counter to last year, but the jump in average head marketed to packers actually followed a seasonal trend. That seasonal tendency continues to rise through June before leveling off in July, according to data gathered by the Kansas State University Extension Service.  The data is … Read More

Choice beef production took a dip in the second week of June, but it’s too early to tell if it’s an outlying move or a seasonal peak coming early. There are those who say that an aggressive slaughter rate by beef packers is pulling down the percentage of cattle yielding choice carcasses.  Perhaps it is, … Read More

A month after cash cattle prices topped out for the season, the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service reported a peak in whole broiler chicken prices just ahead of the dog days of summer. In many respects, chicken is a bigger competitor to beef for consumer protein dollars than is pork, even though pork is a red … Read More

Large commodity investment funds, called managed money, trimmed their net long live cattle futures position during the week ended Tuesday as commercial traders cut their net short position. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, in its weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday said that as of Tuesday, managed money’s net long position was 127,086 contracts, down … Read More