Sort & Cull

USDA highlighted a few deadlines for pandemic aid. The department extended the enrollment period for the Pandemic Livestock Indemnity Program, which pays producers for having to depopulate their herds in 2020 because of processing-capacity challenges.

U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke to the White House press corps last week about some of the actions USDA is doing to invest funds into smaller packing plants and address antitrust enforcement in the packing industry. He also talked about the need for legislation to make...

Farmers answering the DTN/The Progressive Farmer Agriculture Confidence Index survey are more optimistic than at this time last year. But costs and other concerns have tempered thoughts on the coming year.

Hogs that will hit the market right when California's Prop 12 goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2022, were already born back in February and are just now being placed in finishing barns. Without clarity about how the state's law will affect the nation's supply chain, producers haven't...

A technical look at weekly charts of live cattle, feeder cattle, lean hogs.

A technical look at weekly charts of live cattle, feeder cattle, lean hogs.

Whether or not the market will actually see advancement remains unknown as packers have figured out another way to avoid supporting the cash cattle market and allowing feedlots to chase true price discovery.

The challenge always is to understand how one overcomes today's trials in order to thrive in tomorrow's successes.

With packers sitting on supplies for at least a month out, someone must ask "when will packers need cattle?" and "when will the cash cattle market be able to demand higher prices again?"

With the onset of severe drought in the West and an abundance of rain in the East, cattlemen are still trying to find the rhythm to this year's market and how they can best capitalize on the market's developments.

On a typical holiday week, such as during the week of Christmas or Thanksgiving, the market doesn't expect to see many cattle trade. But on a usual week, the market fully anticipates seeing anywhere from 70,000 to 120,000 head of cash cattle trade. Last week's movement only...

The market hasn't only deteriorated in the sense that prices are lower for cow-calf producers and feedlots, but also in the sense that the market is losing its voice, its leverage and has even questioned its own trajectory.

More than anything, cattlemen are looking for a sense of what the market could be in the weeks to come. Dealing with unfavorable prices is one thing, dealing with drought and high feed prices is another, but if one can lessen the chances of being blindsided by more challenges...

While I'm thankful last week's cyberattack was quickly dealt with, I'm also here to tell you that the cost of wasted time and missed opportunities is high.

It seems like government officials, industry leaders and the nation's largest cattlemen associations are finally hearing the pleas from the countryside.

While we focus on the matter at hand (fed cattle and feeder cattle prices), we cannot forget to keep close tabs on the nation's cows and monitor their herd trajectory.

High corn prices aren't necessarily a bad thing, but when high corn prices are stacked next to historically low live cattle prices, that's when the real crisis surfaces.

It's hard to say which contributing factor will have a greater pull on the market at this point, but regardless, producers should begin thinking about how they are going to approach marketing their calves this year.

Regardless of what corn prices did last week, what they'll do this week or what they could do in the weeks to come, every market connoisseur will tell you, "the cure for high prices is high prices."

Packers only buy cattle with time when they know that supplies are going to be short, or when they know that the cash cattle market could rally. In the current market's scenario, both are true and both favor feedlots' positions, which cause packers angst.