Cattle dressed weights likely are beginning a seasonal slide that could take them below last year, although a test of the previous five-year average does not appear imminent. Part of Wednesday’s drama in the cattle futures market was talk of seasonal declines in dressed weights and the consequent lower beef production.  Steer and heifer dressed … Read More

Fewer Mexican cattle imports are expected this year as producers there begin rebuilding their herds and lower prices make sales to the US less enticing, said Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist Derrell Peel in a commentary this week. Mexican cattle producers have begun to retain heifers for breeding, the US herd is growing, … Read More

Feedlot margins improved significantly during the week ended Feb. 20 as prices for fed cattle rose nearly $2 per cwt, but the red ink continues to flow, said a well-known market analyst.  Packer margins declined with the higher prices, but they remain positive. The Sterling Beef Profit Tracker from Sterling Marketing Inc., and published by … Read More

Commercial traders continued to extend their net short position in live cattle futures during the week ended Tuesday, while managed money firms kept their positions near steady. So those who theoretically could make or take delivery of futures contracts are losing faith in the market’s ability to maintain its current price gains, while fund type … Read More

Chicken slaughter during January was down 3% from December and down 4% from a year earlier as companies took advantage of the birds’ short life spans and cut production in the face of declining returns. That is something cattle producers can’t do because of the extended life spans and reproduction cycles of the animals.  These … Read More

The number of US farms continues to decline as small operations are eaten by larger, but the amount of land being farmed also is declining, a USDA survey showed. The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, in its Farms and Land in Farms Summary 2015, estimated the number of US farms last year at 2.07 million, … Read More

If beef and fed cattle prices are moving higher in the short term, gains likely will be capped by rising volumes of red meat in cold storage. The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service released its monthly Cold Storage report Tuesday.  It showed that total red meat stocks in US freezers as of Jan. 31 were … Read More