In the Beef Market Update this week, Anne Wasko of Gateway Livestock Exchange and RealAgriculture’s Shaun Haney start the conversation with the good news that the U.S. fat cattle market in the south and the live market in the north appear to be gaining some ground, coming off of the early September lows.
That being said, the choice cutout market is still struggling big time, which isn’t surprising considering the time of year, says Wasko. The expectation is that it will make an upwards swing come mid-October as U.S. Thanksgiving and the holidays approach.
North of the border in Alberta, trade has been slow to get going. When comparing the U.S. cattle-on-feed report to Canfax’s report for western Canada, the U.S. still has more cattle on feed than a year ago, whereas Canada’s numbers have dropped. Wasko attributes the trend to a tighter supply starting to show up with a drop off in placements in the southern States, especially Kansas.
In spite of the weekly ups and downs, from a market analyst standpoint Wasko says that in her 40 year career she has not witnessed prices at record levels for this length of time. She does mention that there are concerns with costs being up and weather concerns, but she is basking in the glory of the strong prices.
On the other side of the industry, there has been a lack of profitability in the cropping sector and good forage production, both of which lower feed costs. This means there are plenty of decisions to make at the ranching level in the coming weeks on whether to deviate from their typical marketing plan by holding out for the possibility of a bigger pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, Haney points out.
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