With current inventory levels and producers beginning to think about expansion, the value of young cows and heifers is increasing as demand for breeding stock increases, said Hannah Baker, University of Florida Extension economist, in a Livestock Marketing Information Center letter called In The Cattle Markets. As discussed yesterday, pastures in the majority of the … Read More

Unseasonably cool, wet weather in late August resulted in the best prospects for early planted wheat in several years, said Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University livestock marketing specialist, in a letter called Cow-Calf Corner. Rain across much of Oklahoma, especially in major wheat production areas, provided the moisture and cool soil temperatures necessary for wheat … Read More

Large commodity index funds, referred to as managed money, raised their collective net long live cattle futures position in the week ended last Tuesday, Sep. 9, while hedgers decreased their total net short position. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission made the data known Friday in its weekly Commitments of Traders report.   FUNDS GET LONGER … Read More

The USDA’s new forecast for 2025 red meat and poultry production was reduced from last month, with lower beef and pork production more than offsetting raised poultry production forecasts. The forecasts came in Friday’s monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report from the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service.   BEEF PRODUCTION FORECAST LOWERED   Expected … Read More

Abnormal dryness and short-term moderate to severe drought continued to expand across the lower to middle Mississippi Valley, Ohio Valley, Central Appalachians, Northeast and Southeast, said the National Weather Service in its weekly Drought Monitor. However, heavy precipitation (two inches or more) resulted in a one-category improvement to central and eastern portions of Kentucky and … Read More

The USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service in Brasilia, Brazil, said in an annual report Wednesday that Brazil, the second largest beef producing country and the largest beef exporting country in the world, was expected to decrease slaughter in 2026. By then, rebuilding the cattle herd will be under way, having begun in the second half of … Read More

Feedlot marketings of fed steers from the average Kansas feed yard jumped in July to their largest point of the year, according to data collected by the Kansas State University Extension service. KSU Extension surveys a select group of feedlots around the state for a variety of data points about their operations and cattle performance.  … Read More