The interesting news on the cut-out front is that the Canadian AAA cut-out has finally caught up to the equivalent US Choice cut-out (in Canadian dollar terms). At the end of July the AAA cut-out was reported at $194. Meanwhile the Choice of $188 converted to $193 Canadian equivalent or $1 lower than the Canadian… Read More

Feedyards have moved from having to wait for cattle to be lifted for weeks on end to a situation where the market is very current.  This has put a little needed marketing power in the hands of feedyards instead of the packer.  The strong basis has beena n excellent incentive to sell cattle on schedule… Read More

Cargill has announced that they will be shutting down its Plainview, Texas Cattle slaughter plant.  Cargill cited a shrinking cattle supply as one of the reasons for the decision. Is this a big surprise, not really in terms of the excess capacity that is in North America.  For Canada, the near term impact is a… Read More

Last week’s U.S. beef market opened with the same strong numbers leading up to American Thanksgiving. By the end of the week, numbers had, as expected, weakened somewhat, as supplies increase in the U.S. In Canada, the reverse is true for supplies — as the fall run ends, the basis is tightening. Canadian cattle producers… Read More

The markets are volatile and could be described liked standing inside a hurricane at times.  Only this time the hurricane was real.  With Hurricane Sandy ripping through the east coast, the impacts on beef demand must be questioned. With the XL Foods hangover working its way out, feed yards and ranchers are trying to get… Read More

The recent meat recall at XL Foods is just another issue to provide adversity to the Canadian cattle industry.  With one of two Western Canadian packers being forced to deal with a meat recall the lift lines have pushed an already wide basis wider.   Additionally, the topic of a struggling pork industry has left… Read More

The US drought is capturing the attention of many people.  One of the groups that is majorly impacted by the drought but has been lost in this meteorological drama is the beef industry.  The US drought is playing a major role in the decision making of some beef producers and feedyards heading into the fall… Read More

This friday is the release of the USDA Cattle on Feed report and the early consensus is that US feedyard placements will be confirmed tighter.  As Anne discusses in the video, this is the scenario that many thought would play out last year but the drought proved otherwise.  An interesting issue is that there is some… Read More

Today’s Canfax COF report for May 1 exposes the current feedlot inventory situation. As of May 1, total numbers on feed were down 7% from last year, down 10% from 2010 and the smallest May 1 inventory other than 2008. Coincidentally, that was also a year that saw large exports of feeder cattle during the first 4 months… Read More

Cattle market conditions today saw the LC and FC pit futures trade limit down on the news of the 4th case of BSE in the US. Overnight trading (Tues night) has already seen some recovery off of those pit lows earlier today. Markets will be closely watching the communication of this BSE case to US… Read More

 

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