Beef Market Update: Keeping a Watchful Eye on the U.S. Herd Expansion

Opinion

It’s tough to talk about the cattle markets and not focus solely on the demand side which, if we’re being honest, has been nothing short of impressive. But price is a function of two components — supply being the balance to demand. While Canada’s beef herd continues to contract, ranchers in the United States have turned a corner and are in full-on expansion mode.

What does that mean for the Canadian cattle market? As Anne Wasko, of Gateway Livestock, points out in this mid-summer edition of the Beef Market Update, our cattle prices are built on the U.S. market — what happens down south eventually dictates what happens here at home. Does that mean we’ve hit “peak cattle” and are headed to a new, less thrilling price trend?

In this edition of the BMU, Wasko and RealAgriculture’s Lyndsey Smith discuss that, at least in part, by covering three new reports: U.S. cattle inventories and the U.S. and Canadian cattle on-feed numbers, before moving on to the impact of a low Canadian dollar with an eye to risk management for the year ahead.

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