Weekly beef export sales sagged in the latest reporting week with whole muscle cut sales for 2014 delivery at 12,000 tonnes, down 2% from the previous week, and down 7.7% from the prior four-week average of 13,000 tonnes, according to the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. US export sales of whole muscle cuts for 2015 delivery … Read More

Despite record-high calf prices, lower input costs potentially open the door for profitable winter grazing, a University extension agricultural economist says. John Riley, at Mississippi State University said in a study that if the cost of gain were 70 cents a pound, and if (Alabama) No. 1, 412-pound calf prices stay at $2.84 a pound, … Read More

Every week over the last year, the percentage of choice grading beef carcasses has increased over the previous year, and the change can be tied to the removal of Zilmax from the diets of feeder cattle. Zilmax, an FDA-approved growth promotant manufactured and sold by Merck Animal Health, was removed from the market a year … Read More

A monthly Kansas State University survey of the state’s feedlots Monday confirmed what traders and USDA reports have said – that sales of fed cattle to packers are declining but that weights are rising. What the other reports don’t say, however, is that declining marketings are seasonal.  It’s just that the slide in sales is … Read More

Managed money tentatively cut its net long positions in live cattle futures during the week ended Tuesday as producers covered short positions, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission reported in its weekly Commitments Of Traders report Friday. During the latest reporting week managed money, or large speculators, trimmed their net long position to 109,936 contracts from … Read More

As the price of feeder cattle climbs and the price of fed cattle softens, it’s hard to imagine how the calves will break even for those planning to put them on feed, but there are times when they do. Feeder steers and heifers at the Oklahoma City Stockyards Monday were steady to $3.00 per cwt … Read More

Cash cattle trading this week has yet to commence as packer buyers wait in the wings and cattle owners seek steady to higher prices. The USDA has reported minimal trade in the western Corn Belt at about $2 per cwt below last week’s prices in the same area, and while the earliest action in any … Read More