On Monday afternoon, the USDA released its semi-annual cattle inventory report. Ag Resource Company market analyst Nathan Lousy says inventories were tighter than expected. “We figured based on the drought in the Northern Plains and the large beef cow slaughter rates we saw in the last year that we were probably going to see tighter inventories. Overall, things were tighter than expected. Several things stuck out to me: this is the third year of liquidation in the beef cow herd and we shrank it by 3.4 percent, the lowest since 2014.” Lousy says the feeder cattle numbers off feed is down four percent from last year, the lowest since 2015. The cattle markets traded stronger ahead of Monday’s report. “I think these markets are in a position similar to 2010 and 2011 where we were shrinking the beef cow herd. Ultimately, by 2015, we had record beef and cattle prices. I think we’re on the cusp of that.”
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