MARKETING...
Feeder Cattle Price Forecast – 6/16/09
Tim Petry
In the Cattle Markets
Cow slaughter, prices and the dairy buyout
The feeder cattle marketing season has ended in the Northern Plains, and many livestock auction markets are starting reduced summer schedules. However, a number of auctions in the Northern Plains are reporting higher-than-expected receipts of beef cows. For example, in the last week of May a central North Dakota auction reported selling several hundred beef cows when only about 100 were expected. This surprised both the market and the cow buyers. In talking with beef producers, there were likely two reasons for the increased marketing. Read more.
DTN Market Matters Blog
Cattle Crush squeezed.
Pat Hill, DTN markets editor, reports on mounting losses in the livestock sector.
How bad is it? Livestock Analyst John Harrington helps her provide some insight. Harrington reports ranchers should pay heed to extremely vulnerable feeder futures if corn “goes into orbit.” Read more.
AngusSource® Cattle Excel
Against Regional Averages
A summary of AngusSource® fed cattle proves the program does more than just verify source and age. The genetic component helps point out higher-quality cattle, says Sara Snider, AngusSource director.
Nearly 50 lots of AngusSource-tagged calves were tracked through Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB)-licensed feedyards. The analysis showed the program calves graded and gained better.
Fourteen participating yards in Kansas and Nebraska shared performance and carcass information on the groups comprised of 71 steers, 19% heifers and 10% mixed lots. When set against the two-state average in the Professional Cattle Consultants database, the AngusSource cattle had the quality advantage by more than 23 percentage points. Read more.
Sara Snider
The Source
Increase your marketing options with AngusSource®
Are you looking for a way to add value to your spring calves before you market them this fall? If the answer is “yes,” then the time to start is today.
AngusSource can open additional marketing avenues for your calves. The AngusSource online listing site is read weekly by more than 600 order buyers and feedyard operators throughout the country. Whether you sell replacement females or feeders direct off the ranch, through your local auction market or on video, this free service can help promote your calves to a larger audience. Read more.
JBS Splits Ownership of Five Rivers
With packer-ban legislation looming, Brazil-based JBS S.A. — the world’s largest beef producer and exporter — announced May 28 it has decided to restructure ownership of Five Rivers Cattle Feeding. According to JBS USA, the company will split ownership of Five Rivers with J&F Oklahoma. J&F will reportedly own the cattle and JBS USA will own the feedlot operation.
JBS Five Rivers, a subsidiary of JBS USA, now owns 10 feedlots and will charge owners of livestock a daily per-head fee to fatten their cattle and take care of the animals until ready for harvest, in accordance with standard market conditions.
J&F Oklahoma Holdings, meanwhile, will own up to 800,000 head of cattle on feed. According to JBS, J&F Oklahoma will pay JBS Five Rivers a market-based daily cattle feeding “hotel fee” for the care and maintenance of its animals.
Steve Suther
CAB Corner
Why “trade down?”
Demand for beef is down. Can you blame the recession? Not entirely, but it’s a darned inconvenient coincidence.
A rancher might check the Choice-Select spread to monitor demand for quality, but that number — lately quite small — does not reflect the stronger demand for higher quality, most of which has been sorted off to premium brand markets.
The recession is still the dominant factor, and it can’t last in the long run. In better times, the middle meats will regain their value and the whole beef animal will be worth a lot more.
The market just needs time to regain equilibrium.
Producers must look beyond the less-relevant Choice-Select spread today and realize there is no market signal to back away from quality. Read more.
USDA Market News
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