Agricultural News
Katelyn McCullock says 2020 is the Year for Boosting Live Cattle Prices
Tue, 04 Feb 2020 09:27:44 CST
The USDA's Cattle Inventory report came out last Friday afternoon, and we heard some comments from OSU Economist, Dr. Derrell Peel, as to what those numbers meant. But we also wanted to share with you some additional information from Katelyn McCullock, the Director of the Livestock Information Center in Denver, Colorado.
She says the number that really jumps out at her from the report is the beef-heifer replacement number, "Beef heifers held for replacement were down 2%, and that was probably the biggest divergence from what the pre-reports were suggesting. The pre-report estimates suggested replacement heifers for beef cows would probably down closer to three and a half percent, so quite a few more heifers held back for replacement than what the consensus was. That other heifer number, those heifers that were placed into feedlots, increased eight-tenths of a percent. That's a little bit less than probably what the pre-reports were showing they were thinking was up closer to 2%."
McCullock said, going forward, what that number means for beef cow herds is that we are definitely not expanding anymore, "This report shows maybe more of a moderate, meandering decline in the overall beef cow herd. Over the next several years, that heifer number suggests that there are still probably a fairly high number of replacements out there. So if we do get the demand from China or any export market, this inventory level could turn around actually fairly quickly at this point."
McCullock says overall, the report was positive for the cattle industry, "I would still say the report is fairly positive for the cattle industry moving forward, some of these other factors that we've talked about still remains to be seen, but the underlying fundamental is that we're going to have less cattle available for slaughter and less cows moving forward for subsequent years which should, in turn, boost live cattle prices."
Click on the LISTEN BAR below to hear the complete interview with Katelyn McCullock as she talks With 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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