Agricultural News
Current Cattle Price Bump Higher May Be Beef Pipeline Getting Ready for Labor Day
Sat, 13 Aug 2011 06:34:00 CDT
The Director of the Livestock Market Information Center, Jim Robb, is one of the speakers on the afternoon program at the 2011 Southern Plains Beef Symposium in Ardmore, Oklahoma. Farm Director Ron Hays had the opportunity to sit down with Robb and talk about the current cattle markets and some of the factors that are impacting cattle producers and their ability to be profitable and stay in business.
Robb says the current strength in the cattle market that we have seen in the last two weeks is not that surprising, as he believes we are seeing the beef pipeline lining supplies up for the final holiday weekend of this summer- Labor Day. On Thursday, cash cattle trade occurred at $116 in the southern plains feedlots, according to the Texas Cattle Feeders Association Daily Market Update. That is three dollars higher than the week before.
Other topics covered with Robb included:
lighter weight cattle being forced into southern plains feedlots because of the exceptional drought conditions we have been battling this summer;
impact on the beef cow herd from the exceptional drought in Texas and Oklahoma;
higher feed grain prices that seem to be priced into the market for the foreseeable future, based on the latest USDA crop production survey released this past Thursday morning;
high feedlot closeouts that may approach $130 per hundredweight by the end of 2011 because of light cattle being placed this summer coupled with relatively high feed costs- futures are only pricing live cattle around $120 which suggests huge losses for the feedlot industry may be ahead;
and a discussion of the other protein choices to consumers- including a likely reduction in poultry supplies later this year into 2012.
Click on the LISTEN BAR below to listen to the conversation between Farm Director Ron Hays and the LMIC's Jim Robb.
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