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Date: October 21st, 2019 Livestock futures finished the week lower as cash feedlot trade slipped lower in the South and was steady to higher in the North. The Cargill Dodge City slaughter plant that suffered an explosion last Thursday put some pressure on the cattle market. So far it appears the plant was only down for a day but still caused some nervousness to end last week. Trade in KS and TX got going Friday at $108 live, $1 lower than the week previous. In the North, trade was reported at $109 to $110 live which was steady with the week previous and $173 to $175 dressed which was $2 to $3 higher than the week previous. NATIONAL FEEDER & STOCKER CATTLE SUMMARY – WEEK…

Date: October 16th, 2019 Livestock futures were again mixed yesterday but mostly higher, the nearby December Lean Hog futures contract settled at the $3 limit higher. Cattle futures continue to search for direction ahead of any cash feedlot trade, typical for Monday and Tuesday trade over the past few weeks. The Fed Cattle Exchange online auction will be held later today with 768 head consigned compared to last week’s 666 head of which none sold with offers from $108 to $109. Tulsa Livestock Auction - Tulsa, OK Livestock Weighted Average Report for 10/14/2019 Total Receipts: 4,401 Last Week: 2,589 Last Year: 2,386 Compared to last week: Steers 4.00-6.00 higher. Heifers 3.00-5.00 higher. Demand good. Quality plain thru attractive. Slaughter cows mostly steady to 1.00-2.00 higher.…

Date: October 15th, 2019 Good start for the livestock futures with cattle mostly triple digits higher yesterday and hogs mixed to mostly higher. Negotiated cattle sales confirmed at 72,265 head last week compared to over 85K the week previous. Average price also confirmed over $109 live with a few hitting $111 on Friday. Dressed sales averaged just under $172 with $172 the top. Joplin Regional Stockyards Feeder Cattle - Carthage, MO Livestock Weighted Average Report for 10/14/2019 Total Receipts: 6,788 Last Week: 3,529 Last Year: 4,944 Compared to last week, steer and heifer calves mostly steady to 2.00 higher, yearlings steady to 2.00 higher. Demand moderate for calves, good for yearlings, supply moderate to heavy. Oklahoma National Stockyards Feeder Cattle - Oklahoma City, OK Livestock…

Meat complex trade was fairly erratic on Thursday with the live and feeder cattle markets closing mixed on both sides of unchanged. Oddly enough, some of the feeder months were up close to $1 in the face of a few contracts finishing lower on the day as well. Hogs were solid red at the close, with net changes ranging from single digits lower to as much as $1 lower on the December. Weekly export sales data was crazy in both markets and along with some wild numbers, I don’t think either market showed even an ounce of reaction to the report. Case in point, net beef sales were a net negative 29,100 mt’s from more cancellations than new business. Net weekly pork sales for the…

Date: October 9th, 2019 Cattle futures were mixed yesterday still looking for direction this week as lean hogs followed up a limit lower day Monday but trading triple digits higher yesterday. Some excitement may have been from the positive news on the trade front as China should be sending additional negotiators than previously expected for the next round of talks. Most are still reporting that China is ready for a partial trade agreement but still not ready for a broad or complete one. Cash feedlot trade fairly quiet so far this week with a few hundred head moving in the North at $170 dressed, steady with a week ago. Joplin Regional Stockyards Feeder Cattle - Carthage, MO Livestock Weighted Average Report for 10/7/2019 Total Receipts:…

More than a little irony behind all the commotion going on within the cattle industry with different producer groups butting heads and the common theme behind the madness is beef packers manipulating markets. I’m not going to choose sides in the producer group bickering, I’ll just casually observe from the outside looking in. The irony is based on the peak of that excitement being accompanied by a futures market that’s actually acting way more rational now than it has in months. Product trade is back to price levels that are really close to fair market value versus other competing meats like pork and poultry. Negotiated cash has been in a solid uptrend for several weeks and futures finally got back to levels over the last…

Date: October 7th, 2019 Livestock futures were mixed to end the week but mostly lower for the week except for nearby live cattle. Cash feedlot trade was higher again last week. Trade in the South at $106 to $107 live, $3 to $4 higher than the week previous and trade in the North at $165 to $170 dressed, steady to $5 higher. Beef exports continue to hold below a year ago which is concerning to a market needing to expand demand while pork exports exceed both a year ago and the 5-year average. Sales these past 2 weeks have topped 30,000 MT, China is starting to buy for 2020 already and accumulated year to date shipments to China have now surpassed 200,000 MT compared to…

Grain and oilseed trade was disappointing yesterday because we were coming off of two days of solid upward price movement in corn and soybeans and then a very abrupt halt to the active buying. Prices didn’t set back much, but there was solid red ink across everything at the finish. In soybeans, the 8 am daily export announcements yesterday included a 464k mt sale of US soybeans to China, which is obviously bullish news, but it got zero following when the market opened for the day trade. Corn, beans and KC wheat were all in the 4-5 lower range at the finish. Chicago wheat was knocking at the door of 10 lower. MGEX was down around 3c across most contracts. Following Monday’s hard bull run…

Date: October 2nd, 2019 Livestock futures traded mixed but mostly under more pressure yesterday with corn, soybeans and Chicago wheat higher but KC and MPLS wheat lower. Cash feedlot trade only reported a few hundred head in the Western Corn Belt at $165 dressed so far this week, steady with a week ago. Later this morning the Fed Cattle Exchange online auction will be held with 846 head consigned compared to last week’s 1,533 head of which none sold. December lean hogs have tested but unable to break through the lower trend that has been in place since mid-April. We are over $12 higher from the recent low earlier this month but they still a very bipolar futures contract right now. Joplin Regional Stockyards Feeder…

Following a decisively bearish Quarterly Hog and Pig report from Friday, the initial reaction yesterday morning was appropriately bearish with quotes in the vicinity of $1 lower, but the end result based on the futures close was polar opposite. Front month October hogs were just mildly higher, but the Dec and Feb contracts were up more than $2 and April was over $1 higher. The total inventory was up 3% from last year, breeding herd numbers were up 2% and market hog totals were up 4%. All of those numbers were also above the pre-report estimates, along with it being the biggest Sept 1 inventory since Hog and Pig reports started being released. There was a daily kill tally last week of 490,000 head and…