After a mostly sluggish April, market-ready fed cattle saw a solid rally in the North and steady money in the South. Futures markets began to look past the psychologically bearish H5N1 virus news.
Cattle and hog feeders find dramatically lower feed costs compared to last year with higher live anumal sales prices. Beef packers continue to struggle with negative margins.
What’s your context? One of the 6 soil health principles we discuss in this week’s episode is knowing your context. What’s yours? What is your goal? What’s the reason you run cattle?
The value of good management has never been higher. Well managed cow-calf operations can concentrate inputs into short time frames focused on critical control points of production.
Historically low current US cowherd inventories and limited evidence of heifer retention indicates the robust markets we currently enjoy should be sustained for at least the next couple of years.
Cash cattle markets edged lower and while wholesale beef and futures markets were mixed. Cattle on Feed totals were up for the seventh consecutive month and placements lower than expected.
While the heifer percentage in feedlots remains above the average of the past ten years, the decline from January to April is an encouraging sign that heifer feeding is perhaps slowing.
High prices are a welcome change for cattle producers, but it’s important to remember that higher prices mean mistakes cost more than when prices are low, says a University of Missouri Extension livestock specialist.
As drought deteriorates across the U.S., it's a positive signal for growing a big crop in 2024. And analysts say if weather continues to fuel this year's crop, December corn futures could fall into the $3 range by fall.
USDA said this week cow-to-cow transmission is a factor in the spread of avian flu in dairy herds, but it still does not know exactly how the virus is being moved around.
The advent of timed AI protocols became a game-changer in allowing professionals, like AI technicians or veterinarians, to breed many females effectively and quickly.
Kevin Lynch shares the pros and cons of multispecies grazing as well as what beginners need to consider in Season 7, Episode 16 of the Casual Cattle Conversations podcast.
Over the past five weeks the combined Prime and Choice carcasses harvested totaled 84.7%, a six percentage point increase over the September low of 78.7%.
Cattle and hog feeders are benefitting from dramatically lower grain and feed costs this year while live animal sale prices are higher. Profit margins for both species have doubled in the past month.
One of the most important decisions cattlemen and cattlewomen face today is how to engineer their selection and mating program to add value to their next calf crop.
Steve Swaffar encourages producers to be prepared to plant cover crops in a wet year if they are looking to increase ground cover and extend days spent grazing.
As long as the beef market is hot, the key for producers will be maintaining the right number of lactating cows going through the parlor and ensuring the right number of replacement heifers can keep that pipeline full.
Horn flies are a small black fly that feeds on the back, sides and belly of cattle and are the most common fly in beef cattle. Economic losses begin when fly populations reach 150-200 per animal.
Carcass weights have trended heavier for over 60 years with steer carcass weights increasing by an average of 4.0 pounds per year, up over 240 pounds from 660 pounds in the 1960s to over 900 pounds in recent years.
The U.S. Drought Monitor shows drought coverage is now at its lowest level since spring of 2020, but USDA's topsoil moisture map shows it's still extremely dry in areas of the west and too wet in the east.
Negotiated cash cattle prices moved lower again under pressure from sinking futures markets. The red-hot hamburger market kept pushing most utility cows higher.
Manipulating the reproductive process of your cow herd can result in shorter breeding and calving seasons with more calves born earlier in the season resulting in an older, heavier, more uniform calf crop when you wean.
Fertilization requires the ability to use increased forage growth in a timely manner. That's more important for stockers than cow-calf operations as excessive early pasture growth is more efficiently used by mature cows.
Research indicates multiple animal performance benefits linked to earlier castration (birth to 3 months), including shorter initial weight loss periods, lower disease susceptibility, and higher post-weaning ADGs.
Cherry County Neb. remains the U.S. County with the most beef cows, according to the 2022 Census of Agriculture. South Dakota has seven counties ranked in the Top 33 while Texas has five.
The margin spread between packer losses and feedyard profits expands as wholesale beef prices continue their retreat. Pork producer profits continue increasing.
Liver abscesses remain a singular, dark cloud over the otherwise sunny segment of dairy-beef-cross cattle. Several entities are performing research to try to solve this frustrating industry obstacle.
Strong global demand for U.S. pork has been been a bright spot for the industry. Fueled by growth in the Western Hemisphere, South Korea and Australia, U.S. pork exports posted another excellent performance in February.
Under pressure from negative margins, packers will continue to play their games but their activity last week led to the biggest harvest rate in seven weeks.
Pesky horn flies can become prolific during the grazing season. However, there are control tactics that can help keep horn fly populations under wraps.
Keeping replacement females from first calf heifers can work if producers plan and select sires that are adequate for calving ease and also offer maternal traits that are beneficial.
The latest data on steer weights shows 23 pounds heavier than a year ago at 922-pounds, record-high for the first two weeks in March. That's a sharply higher trend line in a time when weights historically trend lighter.
Packer and feeder margins continue trending in opposite directions as declining wholesale beef prices erase any improvement packers may have seen from lower cash cattle prices. Pork producer profits steady.
Crabgrass is an annual, warm-season grass that is fast growing, easy to establish, and capable of natural and prolific reseeding, all of which allows it to excel as a “weed.”
Market cow prices have increased significantly as demand has grown for product in the nonfed beef market, and the supply is tightening faster than that of fed beef.
News of HPAI in dairies in the southern plains gave futures bears reason to react early last week, and the negative psychology spilled over into the cash trade as all regions traded lower.
The Idaho State Department of Agriculture announced that HPAI, known as highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, has been found in dairy cattle in Idaho.
EPDs from multiple breeds can be compared by adding/subtracting the appropriate adjustment factors to the EPDs resulting from the most recent genetic evaluations for each of 18 breeds.
U.S. employers report challenges in finding suitable job candidates with work-ready skills to fill open roles in ag. The AgCareers.com U.S. Skills Survey offers insights, data and trends to address skill development.
