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

For the third straight week, large commodity investment firms, called managed money, liquidated a portion of their collective net long live cattle futures position as hedgers covered part of their total net short position. The data came from Friday’s weekly Commitments of Traders report by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.   FUNDS NOT AS LONG … Read More

The number of cattle populating Canada’s feedlots on Jan. 1 was down from the same date in 2024 and down from the 2019-23 average, according to data from CanFax, a division of the Canadian Cattle Association. December placements, though, were up from 2023 and the previous five-year average. Data was collected from CanFax members in … Read More

  2-20-25 – With wholesale beef prices declining and packers thought to be deeply in the red, some are beginning to wonder if the bloom may be off the rose for cattle markets. It’s the wrong season to declare a decline in boxed beef prices a harbinger of things to come, but if the decline … Read More

Agricultural real estate values in the Kansas City Federal Reserve district were flat through the end of 2024 as credit conditions deteriorated slightly, said a Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank report. The report was authored by Federal Reserve Economists Ty Kreitman and Nate Kauffman and was the result of a survey of 10th district banks. … Read More

Large commodity index funds, known as managed money, cut their collective net long live cattle futures position during the week ended last Tuesday, Feb. 11, as commercial traders trimmed their total net short position. The data came from the weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.   FUNDS SELL CATTLE … Read More