Feedyard
A 75-year low in U.S. inventory and restricted Mexican imports are tightening supplies. As grilling season nears, strong demand and record cash trades continue to propel the market despite geopolitical tensions.
Terrain’s Dave Weaber says placements of cattle into feedlots will continue to shrink, long-feared beef slaughter capacity reductions have arrived, and the beef cow herd hasn’t begun to expand.
The announcement to close the Lexington, Neb., plant and transition to one shift in Amarillo shocked the beef industry. While local impacts will be significant, analysts urge producers to remain calm as the market fundamentals steady following the reaction.
Meat Institute report analyzes the state of beef cattle markets and points out current pricing myths.
Infection may not directly impact herd health, but it can have implications for nutritional management.
Native to east Asia, the ALHT was first detected in New Jersey in 2017. Since then, it has spread to more than 20 states with recent confirmations in Illinois, Michigan and Iowa.
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announces plans to reopen Moore Air Base in Texas as a New World screwworm sterile fly distribution facility. Long-term production is anticipated to be 300 million sterile flies per week.
Joe Morgan, CEO of Poky Feeders based in Scott City, Kan., was inducted into the 2025 Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame during the Cattle Convention in San Antonio, Texas, this year.
Monarch says its Autodrive technology is the first commercially available, fully autonomous feature in a driver-optional tractor.
USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) suspended imports of live cattle and bison from Mexico on Nov. 22, 2024, following the detection of New World screwworm (NWS) along Mexico’s southern border.
The largest feedyard north of the Rio Grande is under construction allowing Blackshirt Feeders to combine data, technology and innovation in a closed loop aligning dairies and semen providers with the feedyard.
Sid Miller, commissioner of the Texas Department of Agriculture, says the risk of highly pathogenic avian influenza impacting beef cattle in the state’s panhandle – where dairy cows have been infected – is minimal.
Average cattle and hog finishing margins are both positive for the third consecutive week, according to calculations in the Sterling Marketing Profit Tracker.
Cattle and hog finishing margins are both positive for the fourth consecutive week despite the fact cash prices for cattle and hogs were slightly lower last week.
Closeouts on cattle and hogs marketed last week remain modestly profitable for the sixth consecutive week, according to calculations by Sterling Marketing.
On a percentage basis, beef packer margins declined significantly last week. It’s all relative, of course, since the starting point from the previous week was stunning.
Cash fed cattle prices ended last week $10 per cwt. lower than last year while the beef cutout closed $16 higher than the same week a year ago. The result? Packer margins $314 per head more than last year.
Beef packer leverage is evident with cash cattle prices $7 per cwt. lower than the same week a year ago and beef cutout prices $23 per cwt. higher. Pork producers are gaining leverage with a $5 per cwt. price rally.
Cattle feeding margins were little changed from the previous week with modest profits. Hog feeding margins were boosted for a third week with another advance in lean carcass prices.
The area was hit especially hard by historic rains on Friday. It is home to several feedyards, with owners and operators trying to assess the number of cows lost due to flood waters rising so quickly.
Oklahoma State University meat scientist Gretchen Mafi has studied the scientific differences between beef that comes from animals finished on a grain diet versus those animals finished on grass.
Cash cattle markets traded modestly lower in another week of lackluster activity. Northern regions experienced adverse weather conditions added stress to cattle and reduced weights.
Cash cattle trade was called active with packers seeking to add inventory. Retailer buying was also active as they anticipate a seasonal slowdown in supplies.
The House Ag Committee passed the Cattle Contract Library Act of 2021 by unanimous vote on Thursday. Supporters say the act would give greater transparency to cattle markets and more leverage to producers.
Did High Heat And Humidity Really Cause Cattle Deaths In Kansas? The Latest Look at Potential Losses
Feedyards battled through the intense conditions to keep their cattle safe this week. The heat and humidity proved devastating, and estimates point to western Kansas feedlots seeing losses of 100 to 500 head per day.
With the extreme heat in cattle feeding areas there have been reports of death losses.
Cash cattle saw average prices move slightly higher for the week while CME futures tumbled lower. USDA’s reported cattle on feed February 1 inventory was the highest for that month in the series going back to 1996.