Sort & Cull

After an unprecedented two years of aggressive beef cow slaughter and drought-related marketing decisions that have placed cattle in feedlots earlier than normal, how can placements yet again be higher?

After a $1 to $3 rally in last week's cash cattle market, feedlots are hoping to see a rally again this week as packers push aggressive chain speeds after the Easter holiday and before high summer demand.

If this storm does indeed produce the moisture it's expected to, the cattle market could see a strong uptick in feeder cattle prices as there are limited supplies of feeder cattle left and green grass should come when the weather warms up.

Thinking the grass is greener on the other side is a dangerous mindset; the longer you spend time with those type of thoughts, the more obsessed with greener grass you become.

From concerns about throughput, higher feed prices and cash cattle prices as a whole, Friday's Cattle on Feed report didn't paint a supportive picture for the nearby market.

The glut of fed cattle is expected to hit the market around May 1. But, with how open and feeding-friendly winter has been, calf-fed fats are ahead of schedule and could pressure the market sooner than we expected.

After a tough three weeks, Monday's live cattle market is showing strength and cattlemen hope that it can stick with the market through the majority of the week's trade.

When the world is forced to look at war, the markets don't care about the market's fundamentals.

To make this business work, you must play offense, because if you get stuck playing defensive, you're always late and always behind.

When it appears that risk is looming and the cash cattle market may dip, selling cattle with time may be enticing. But when you stack the pros and cons up against one another, nine times out of 10, this decision gives packers more control over the market and negatively affects...

Taking a premium on the market at hand sounds enticing, but if today's premium shorts tomorrow's market, how much of a premium was it really?

The live cattle market has been gaining momentum upon strong technical and fundamental interest but, to keep the momentum rolling, the cash cattle market will need to perform in the weeks ahead.

From the Cattle Inventory Report, to monitoring daily processing speeds and the cash market's developments, the cattle market has a lot on the line this week.

Remember to closely analyze the data before you react to a market headline, as Friday's Cattle on Feed report is a perfect example of the need to better understand the report's full context verses its simple headline.

With an aggressive kill schedule throughout the fourth quarter of 2021, market-ready supplies of fat cattle are extremely current for the time being. But it doesn't take the market very long to see supplies back up; we all remember how painful it was to work through...

The last time that the market really got a good test on feeder cattle was the week before Christmas, so amid the excellent rally that the live cattle market is striding out with, feeder cattle prices are expected to heat up as long as the corn market doesn't jump above $6...

Given all the bullish factors that support the live cattle market, I do believe the market stands a strong chance at trading at $140, if not higher, but we must recognize that there is a lot of optimism already built into the contract, and it's never just smooth, easy...

It's hard for the complex to do much trading when every sector of the market is thinly traded during the holidays.

The recent rally that the market has experienced has been a blessing, but now cattlemen hope the market can be defensive during the new two weeks and hopefully protect the market from losing too much of its recent rally while the market breaks for the holidays.

From the tremendous lineup of speakers that the day holds, to the insightful one-on-one conversations that help share awareness of the different strategies that various operations use, there's not a minute to spare and we all have so much to learn.