MARKETING...
Feeder Cattle Price Forecast - 3/13/09
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Darrell Mark
In the Cattle Markets
The Corn Crystal Ball
Corn prices are some 35% lower than last year at this time, which should be some relief to cattle feeders (although positive margins are still hard to come by). With large changes in corn price levels and corn input costs, all eyes in both the grain and livestock industry focus on planting acreage and production in 2009.
The first survey-based estimate on corn planted acreage won't be available from National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) until March 31, and the World Agricultural Outlook Board doesn't begin its supply and demand balance sheet for the 2009-10 marketing year in its monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report until May 12. But, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Outlook Forum at the end of February provided some early indication of what USDA analysts are expecting for this next year. Read more.
Survival of the Fittest
With costs continuing to escalate in the cattle business, cow-calf producers need to become more astute managers and find ways to add value to calves in the future. That was the advice of Casey Gabel, Cattle-Fax analyst, as he addressed participants at the 2008 Robert E. Taylor Memorial Symposium: Applied Reproductive Strategies in Beef Cattle in Fort Collins, Colo.
Gabel provided an overview of the current state of the industry, noting escalating operating costs and the shrinking U.S. beef cow inventory. Read more.
PA Producers Pool Feeder Calves,
Fetch Higher Prices
Eight thousand calves were sold for premium prices last year through a program that is helping to increase profits for Pennsylvania beef producers.
Begun in 1995, the Pennsylvania Feeder Calf Pool traditionally has added 10¢ to 25¢ per pound to the sale price, resulting in $100 and $145 more per head than other cattlemen in the state during the past five years — an additional $3,000 in income per producer.
The calf pool is a cooperative marketing effort that enables small-scale cattle producers to group animals of uniform sex and weight into larger lots. Uniform lots of cattle fetch a higher price on the market and decrease additional sorting after purchase. Read more.
Sara Snider
The Source
When can I enroll?
Calves cannot be enrolled in AngusSource® until the first calf is born.
The program verifies “group age.”That is, all calves enrolled together share the birth date of the oldest calf in the group. Without a record of when the first calf was born, the enrollment cannot be processed and tags cannot be issued. We encourage producers to enroll after calving is complete to ensure an accurate head count. Some producers, however, use the AngusSource program tag as the only means of identification (ID) and enroll with only one calf born. While this is allowed, it is not encouraged as there are several challenges to consider. Read more.
Today's Beef Consumer
An industry that aims to be consumer-driven must first identify its drivers. That's why “Defining Consumers — Emerging Expectations”was part of the Pfizer-sponsored Cattlemen's College® at the winter National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) meeting in Phoenix, Ariz.
Not surprisingly, many consumers felt a lack of confidence in the economy and their finances last fall. It could be seen in a 40-year, all-time-low “Consumer Confidence Index,”which helped explain buying behavior, according to Tracey Erickson, vice president of marketing for Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB).
“There are big differences in what people do when they feel optimistic compared to what they do when they feel pessimistic,”she said. Read more.
Mark McCully
CAB Corner
Focus on the top line, and the bottom line will follow.
Historically, farming and ranching have been “least-cost”and commodity-based businesses. We are frugal managers, masters of efficiency who try to drive cost from our budgets every day.
Like most commodity producers, we keep the bottom line on the top of our minds. Sales and marketing of the product typically gets far less consideration than the mechanics of getting it produced. We will be profitable, if only we can get rid of more costs — or so we think.
Granted, an effective and sustainable business model always looks at its expenses – but not exclusively. Expenses make up only part of the picture. Read more.
USDA Market News
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