Markets picked up in Alberta this week with 112-113 being reported which is a couple dollars higher than last week making Canada more even with the US jump last week. The US feels like its low were in a couple weeks ago which may mean the worst of the summer cash prices is over. We... Read More
Category: Cattle
The US drought is capturing the attention of many people. One of the groups that is majorly impacted by the drought but has been lost in this meteorological drama is the beef industry. The US drought is playing a major role in the decision making of some beef producers and feedyards heading into the fall... Read More
We could easily call this episode of the Beef Market Update the "even Steven" episode or the "good news bad news" episode as it seems as though every point has a counter-point and every yin, a yang. In some cases it's less of a counter-point than it is a "wait just a minute, not so... Read More
Cull cow and bull prices have transitioned from strong to red hot over the last few weeks. The market is certainly calling for available cull animals to move to market. There are many factors on both the supply and demand side of the cull market that have been price supportive. Somewhat like the fed market... Read More
"The number one cure for high prices is high prices" That also was a pretty good reflection of the mood surrounding the Saskatchewan Stock Growers annual general meeting this week. There is great optimism for the rancher heading into the fall run as I expect feeder cattle to have strong prices attached to them. Whether... Read More
I am hearing major frustration from some of the younger cow calf producers regarding the difficulty of trying to expand their cow herd in this crazy market. Prices for pairs has shot higher at the same time when banks may be less than eager to lend to the cattle industry. Add on top of that... Read More
This friday is the release of the USDA Cattle on Feed report and the early consensus is that US feedyard placements will be confirmed tighter. As Anne discusses in the video, this is the scenario that many thought would play out last year but the drought proved otherwise. An interesting issue is that there is... Read More
Today’s Canfax COF report for May 1 exposes the current feedlot inventory situation. As of May 1, total numbers on feed were down 7% from last year, down 10% from 2010 and the smallest May 1 inventory other than 2008. Coincidentally, that was also a year that saw large exports of feeder cattle during the... Read More
Do you eat as much meat as you used to? Many people in North America do say no, yet the the US still eats the second highest amount of meat per capita in the world according to the Economist. The average American consumers 276 pounds of meat per year while Personally I still love to... Read More
This edition of the Beef Market Update is.......complicated. Let's start with the things we expected. We knew those summer lows were coming and we knew that risk management would be extremely valuable to producers in this volatile market. We even expected a little bit of the unexpected, i.e. a recent case of BSE in California.... Read More