After peaking last year at 224.35 pounds, US per capita red meat and poultry consumption on a retail weight basis is expected to decline through 2025. That prediction was made by the Livestock Marketing Information Center in Denver this week. The largest and most pronounced decline will be in beef, the LMIC said.  Pork was … Read More

Jeff Kearns, managing editor of the International Monetary Fund’s blog, wrote Wednesday that the IMF’s largest ever, $650 billion, liquidity boost continued to benefit the global economy. The Special Drawing Rights in August 2021, was intended to help “turn the pandemic crisis toward recovery,” Kearns said.   UNCONDITIONAL ASSETS   “SDRs are unconditional reserve assets … Read More

Herd expansion could begin soon, 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. Beef cattle inventory levels are expected to remain low, with feed availability and costs limiting factors, Diersen said.   THINGS ARE CHANGING   But heading … Read More

Bred cows are showing price strength at auction, prompting some market analysts to say it shows a desire among cow/calf producers to begin rebuilding their herds after Four years of decline.   RECENTLY BRED   Bred cows, 1-3 months along that are classified medium and large no. 1-2 sold on a per head basis, have … Read More

Large commodity index funds, known as managed money, sold live cattle futures during the week ended Tuesday as hedgers covered many of their short positions, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report Friday.   MANAGED MONEY SELLS CATTLE   As of Tuesday, managed money had a collective net long live … Read More

Although drought persists in the Plains, Oklahoma forage conditions improved greatly this summer, said Oklahoma State University Livestock Marketing Specialist, Derrell Peel, in a report titled Cow-Calf Corner. In late April, at the peak of drought this spring, more than 64% of Oklahoma had some degree of dry or drought conditions with about 50% of … Read More

Total red meat supplies in US freezers at the end of July were down slightly from June and down about 14% from last year, according to the USDA’s monthly Cold Storage report Wednesday. Total frozen poultry supplies on July 31 were down about 1% from the previous month but up about 4% from a year … Read More