"What best describes volatility?” asks Nevil C. Speer, Western Kentucky University at Pfizer’s Cattlemen’s College at the 2012 Cattle Industry Convention and Trade Show in Nashville, TN.
Ranchers in attendance were polled, and 73% see it as a shifting market.
With cheap corn appearing to be a thing of the past, producers can capitalize on the ruminant's ability to digest forages and fibrous byproducts by looking to those feedstuffs as their primary backgrounding ration...More
"Cattle feeding has mostly become a game of small margins on economies of scale mired in risk management that many times offers more opportunities than the cash position itself," say analysts with the Agricultural Marketing Service. "Most feedlots refuse to operate with empty pens, and their desire to maintain inventories causes an accumulation of feeder cattle that have unrealistic breakevens."...More
Though there's no official word yet, numerous reports during the past month suggest Japan is getting closer to raising the age limit on beef imported from the U.S. to 30 months and younger. The current requirement is 20 months and younger....More
The Choice-Select spread that took a drubbing during the Great Recession has come back in spades. After trudging along in the single digits for what seemed like forever, it began climbing in August and has averaged around $18 in recent weeks; it was $19.19 last Friday....More
Anyone in the Southern Plains eyeballing the recent blush of green in pastures due to some fall rains can be forgiven for wanting to re-stock sooner than later. But Daren Redfearn, Oklahoma State University Extension forage and management specialist, points out that while rainfall will dramatically improve winter pastures...More
Nov. 29-Dec. 1 – Range Beef Cow Symposium, Scotts Bluff County Fairgrounds, Mitchell, NE; 308-632-1230 or kjenkins2@unl.edu.Dec. 1 – Alabama Forage & Grassland Conference, Lake Guntersville State Park, Guntersville; 334-887-4564 or ......More
Rain finally fell on the Southern Plains the past couple of weeks. In fact, there could even be some wheat pasture. But, the resurgent La Niña suggests recent moisture is merely a respite ahead of a winter and spring that should be a whole lot like last year....More
U.S. meat and poultry production is headed for what researchers at the Rabobank International Food & Agribusiness Research and Advisory (FAR) team anticipate to be a "precipitous fall" by mid-2012. Beef and broiler supplies are all expected to tighten as production increasingly lags behind GDP growth....More
Congress finally passed pending free trade agreements (FTA) with Columbia, South Korea and Panama last week. Those agreements mean big money to the U.S. beef industry....More
Whether you're looking to buy or sell corn or milo stalks this year, Bruce Anderson, University of Nebraska Extension forage specialist, says the sale price should be based on the value of field nutrients being sacrificed....More
