In his Monthly Market Profile for BEEF magazine, Western Kentucky University’s Nevil Speer says the primary story during the past several months revolves around cattle feeders. They’ve done a great job fending off the onslaught of negative pressure, he says, but serious cracks began to appear in April....More

While the recent debacle over lean finely textured beef hasn’t significantly affected fed cattle prices, Southern Plains feedyards are concerned the long-term fallout could hurt both consumers and cattle feeders. Beef prices could go up and the value of beef carcasses could go down if the issue turns into a long-term market mover. While prices are their immediate concern, what has feedyard managers most perplexed is how the popular media can malign a completely safe product and what may be next in their sights....More

“One of these months, USDA's Cattle on Feed (COF) report will reflect just how short supplies really are and this could bring a newfound spark to the industry after most of the bulls have left the room,” analysts with the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) said Friday.  In the meantime, both feedlot inventories and placements continue higher, according to last Friday's COF report....More

There is value – measured in hard dollars and cents – in improving cattle performance in the feedyard. “If we could change feed efficiency 5% on a pen of cattle, that would be about a $30-$35/head premium for us,” says Tom Hill with Agri-Beef in Boise, ID....More