Agricultural News
Markets Well Down the Road to Recovery as Heat from the Tyson Fire Cools Down
Wed, 09 Oct 2019 05:55:04 CDT
It has been a full two months since the infamous August fire incident shuttered the Tyson meat packing plant in Holcombe, Kan. occurred. Though the plant is still closed and likely to remain that way until at least the end of the year, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Market Economist Dr. Derrell Peel says both the industry and the markets are slowly starting to recover from the incident.
“There are still some impacts of the packing plant fire in cattle markets to some extent. It is fading as we expected relatively quickly for the most part,” Peel remarked, crediting the competency of the packing industry in its ability to quickly and effectively react to the situation. “The packing industry really did a good job of doing some emergency things- particularly large Saturday kills to keep slaughter rates up. So, we’ve continued to move cattle. There’s been no significant back log of fed cattle that didn’t get processed in a timely way.”
As a result, Peel reports that the boxed-beef market quickly shot up and just nearly as quickly retreated back to price levels consistent with where they typically are this time of year. The feeder cattle market too, which Peel says initially gapped down on the futures significantly impacting cash markets, is starting to bounce back. What has been most affected, though, is the fed cattle market. According to Peel, there is a tight squeeze on packing capacity currently as it continues to be pressed nearly to its limits. Keeping fed cattle supplies moving through the pipeline in a timely fashion is proving to be the most challenging task of all.
Peel’s counterpart at Kansas State University, Dr. Glynn Tonsor, agrees with the assessment that the industry is well on its way down the road to recovery. Tonsor, offering his own remarks on the developing situation, praised the industry for being so successful in what it has been able to do moving fat cattle through the pipeline.
Listen to the full remarks of both Tonsor and Peel as they offer their analysis of the current beef market performance since the packing plant fire, on today’s Beef Buzz with Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
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