Sort & Cull

A premium structure to live cattle futures has returned with a vengeance this fall. So why have premium promoters become so drunk with enthusiasm?

When the sun sets on Labor Day on Monday, which cut of meat will have blackened the most grills?

Fed cattle and hog prices have been on a slow but steady doomsday march since mid-July, both losing approximately $8-$9 over 30 days or so. Yet one hardly needs to blame cosmic chaos or the reverse gravity of black holes to explain the late-summer bearishness.

Nothing underscores the importance of keeping your plow in the ground like the recent history of South Korean demand for U.S. beef.

When news is no news, it's good for the cattle industry.

Is there a trend change afoot? Or is it just market noise?

Number-crunchers received the first hard evidence of regional beef herd liquidation this week.

If the hotter-than-normal weather seen in late spring continues throughout the summer, it could have a negative impact on the cattle market.

As we close the book on an amazingly bullish week, a week that saw live cattle prices jump as much as $5-$6 from the pre-holiday market, DTN Livestock Analyst John Harrington feels he owes someone out there a "never mind."

Brazil has troubles of its own that rival those in the US.

U.S. cattlemen face a new marketing challenge -- interpreting two great inscrutables, China and Donald J. Trump.

John Harrington takes a closer look at what is driving the remarkable performance of the fed cattle market so far in 2017, and to what do cattlemen owe for this mad orgy of money making.

Why have cattle traders transformed from wallflowers to party animals at the board? DTN Livestock Analyst John Harrington explains.

DTN Livestock Analyst John Harrington looks at how the king of fast food's subjects are increasingly restless and market share has been steadily eroding. Will the move to using fresh beef in McDonald's Quarter Pounders round up more business and profit?

Will the Brazilian meat scandal truly have legs in the international market?

Barring a huge upset (or erroneously stuffed envelope), the great market crab of the Jan-Feb period is none other than live cattle futures. Never have such extreme price discounts been so stubbornly defended in the face of absolutely explosive cash and product news.

The open winter conditions are at least playing a part in jump-starting seasonal demand typically related to the heart of grilling interest in late spring and early summer.

Until the CME can somehow revive the critical reality of convergence, risk managers will find live cattle futures to be no more useful than an ornamental doorstop.

Among many changes happening on the national level are restrictions of immigrants and refugees. What that means to the livestock industry is up in the air, but change is coming.

Members of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture put together a list of priorities for the farm bill as the group's members were meeting in Washington, D.C., last week.