Cattle and beef markets often struggle in the period after July 4 until mid-August or so, known as the “dog days of summer.” The week after the Independence Day holiday, weekly choice boxed beef prices dropped from holiday highs of $329.96 per cwt to about $322.00 and continued to decline.   TYPICAL DEMAND DROP   … Read More

Since hitting their 2024 high two weeks ago, weekly slaughter steer prices have declined, but they remain north of last year and well above the 2018-2022 average. It looks like weekly slaughter steer prices could hold within a range for the next four months before dropping off late in the year, a market analyst said. … Read More

After a one-week sell-off, managed money returned to buying live cattle futures contracts in the week ended Tuesday as hedgers continued to cover short positions. The data came from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday.   FUNDS BUY CATTLE FUTURES   Managed money, a proxy for large commodity futures index … Read More

The USDA’s monthly Cold Storage report Thursday said total red meat supplies in freezers June 30 were down about 2% from the previous month and down about 2% from last year. Total frozen poultry supplies on June 30 were up about 2% from the previous month but down about 8% from a year ago, the … Read More

With no evidence the US cattle herd has begun to expand again after years of decline, at least one specialist is saying it could begin within the next two years, but there’s a potential catch. Wesley Tucker, University of Missouri Extension agricultural business specialist, succession planner and national conference speaker, last week authored an article … Read More

As weekly wholesale 90% lean beef prices keep rising to record highs, the difference between them and their 50% lean counterparts is narrowing. Both products are ground into hamburger and blended to create the variety of lean-to-fat ratios seen in grocery store meat cases. Looking at graphed prices for the two from the Livestock Marketing … Read More

This article is authored by Paul Beck, Oklahoma State University beef cattle nutrition specialist and published in Cow-Calf Corner.  It is based on the thoughts he put together for a symposium at the American Society of Animal Science meeting held in Calgary “Increasing the Resilience of the Beef Cattle Feeder Supply.”  It has been edited … Read More