Both live and feeder cattle futures opened lower but are recovering early Tuesday. Futures imploded and touched limit down during the session after a human case of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza was reported from a worker at one of the Texas dairies with infected animals.
Brad Kooima, Kooima Kooima Varilek, says the cattle market overreacted. “To say that we should have gone down $7 because of that news was completely unwarranted but it is what it is. I guess it’s like arguing a bad referee’s call in a basketball game,” he says. However, he admits that uncertainty spooks the speculator and is hard on the cattle market.
He was relieved that it wasn’t headline news on the major news networks and this is not a human health threat according to the Centers for Disease Control or CDC. “Here in Sioux County, Iowa we’ve had HPAI in bird flocks since 2020 and have not had reported human illnesses,” he says.
Plus, the meat and the milk from these animals is safe according to the FDA and USDA.
With the discount to cash the cattle futures should see some decent recovery according to Kooima and he hopes cooler heads will prevail.
Koooima is expecting a bit of pressure on the cash trade this week. However, cash cattle Friday when the futures were closed was a bit stronger. “The south traded mostly $186 earlier in the week but then on Friday we actually traded a little $187 and the cattle were actually imported to the North which would tell you that the North is very current,” he adds.
Lean hog futures continue to see gains and new contract highs in the June after digesting a somewhat bearish Hogs and Pigs Report and rallying. However, Kooima says strong demand is supportive.
Corn is seeing some follow through farmer selling and profit taking but improved moisture is pressuring futures, while soybeans are higher with a strong crush figure and higher soybean oil.
