All cattle and calves in the US as of Jan. 1 totaled 87.157 million head, 1.684 million, or 1.90%, fewer than the 88.841 million on Jan. 1, 2023, the USDA said Wednesday in its semi-annual Cattle (Inventory) report. Totals listed were not a big surprise to cattle owners, traders and analysts.  Anecdotal reports indicated that … Read More

Dec, 1 hay stocks saw a significant rise after last year’s 50-plus-year low and is up 6.9% nationally, according to USDA data compiled by the Livestock Marketing Information Center. In a letter to Extension staff called Livestock Monitor, the LMIC went on to say 2023 production still was the third lowest in the last 50 … Read More

Most cattle sectors have some seasonality in prices because of biology, feedstuff growing seasons and climate, said Matthew Diersen, risk and business management specialist at South Dakota State University in a Livestock Marketing Information Center letter called In The Cattle Markets. Seasonalities tend to be reflected in futures prices when contracts across expirations are examined, … Read More

With live cattle futures prices rising, large commodity index funds, known as managed money, began buying more contracts, extending their collective net long position, expanding it from a near-term low. At the same time, cattle owners, known as commercial traders, expand their total net short position. Those conclusions came from data in the weekly Commitments … Read More

The USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service in Beijing, China, Wednesday increased its estimate of China’s Marketing Year 2023/24 corn production by 4.2% from last year to 288.8 million tonnes because of greater planted area and higher yields. The new information came in a Global Agricultural Information Network report from the FAS.   MORE ACRES   Yield … Read More

Total red meat supplies in freezers on Dec. 31 were up about 4% from the previous month but down about 9% from last year, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service said in its monthly Cold Storage report Wednesday. Total frozen poultry supplies were up about 4% from the previous month and up slightly from a … Read More

Canadian feedlots had an estimated 1.093 million head on feed as of Jan. 1, slightly more than at the same time in 2023 and more than the 2018-2022 average, according to CanFax, a private market advisory group. CanFax gathers its information from member feedlots in Alberta and Saskatchewan and passes on the data for totals … Read More