Partly in response to lower-than-average placements for most of this year, Canada’s total number of cattle on feed continued to drop in this month’s report. CanFax is a division of the Canadian Cattle Association, located in Calgary, Alberta.  Staff there collect feeding information from feedlots in Alberta and Saskatchewan. CanFax then shares the total on … Read More

USDA’s reported weekly boxed beef cutout value is holding a little higher than last year and the previous five-year average, even though fed steer and heifer dressed weights also are higher than the two previous benchmarks. In addition, the weekly percent of beef that was graded choice in the total graded slaughter mix is up … Read More

The Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics released the July 2024 Consumer Price Index last week. The August Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook report from the USDA said the all-items CPI was 315 in July.  Beef prices showed the most growth since the early 1980s; the July 2024 beef and veal CPI was 429; … Read More

Large commodity index funds, known as managed money, reduced their collective net long live cattle futures position during the week ended Tuesday as hedgers trimmed their total short position. So reported the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in its weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday.   FUNDS SELL CATTLE   Tuesday, managed money had a collective … Read More

Even though dairy cow slaughter popped during the last two weeks of data, dairy cow culling continues well below last year, boosting cull cow prices, said David Anderson, livestock and food product marketing specialist at Texas A&M University. Writing in the Livestock Marketing Information Center’s In The Cattle Markets, Anderson also said, reduced dairy cow … Read More

According to the USDA’s July Livestock Slaughter report, cattle slaughter totaled 2.4 million head in June, said Hannah Baker, Florida state specialized Extension agent at the University of Florida, in a Livestock Marketing Information Center letter called In The Cattle Markets.     That was a 12% year-over-year decrease and a 7% decline since a month … Read More

Agricultural credit conditions in the Tenth Federal Reserve District tightened further in the second quarter, according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Tuesday. The authors, Federal Reserve Economists Cortney Cowley and Ty Kreitman, said, alongside lower crop prices and continued elevated production expenses, farm income declined at a slightly faster … Read More