CME October 2020 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Live cattle up on cash market strength

Lean hog weights 'coming down a little bit'

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures gained on Monday, as the cash market strengthened and packers looked to pickup slaughter rates, brokers said. Feeder cattle also gained, while lean hog futures added as producers looked to offload market-weight animals early to reduce feed costs. CME October live cattle added 0.7 cent […] Read more

Even as conditions dried out in April, the cover crops hung in to provide feed and weight gain on yearlings.

Cover crops fit in SE Australia

Report from Down Under: Warm-season crops produced excellent gains on grass-fed beef

With rain forecast for the next four days (in early May 2020) I take pen to paper to write about cover crops in southeast Australia. Seeding is well underway for these crops along with cereals, pulses, legumes, forages and others. The rain we are receiving across a wide swath of this part of the country […] Read more


CME October 2020 lean hogs with 20- and 50-day moving averages and Bollinger (20,2) bands. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Hog futures rise on good cash market demand

October live cattle close lower

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange hog futures rose on Friday on signs of strength in the cash market after prices had stagnated, traders said. “Recent price weakness uncovered fresh demand, triggering buying on the board this morning that tripped buy stops, accelerating gains,” StoneX chief commodities economist Arlan Suderman wrote in a note […] Read more



CME October 2020 live cattle with Bollinger (20,2) bands. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Cattle futures steady as investors eye supplies

October lean hogs close higher

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. cattle futures steadied on Wednesday, with investors unwilling to push the market above recent highs due to plentiful supplies. Some producer hedging also was noted, traders said. “Everybody is a little too bulled up,” said Larry Hicks at Cattlehedging.com. “Everybody thinks we have worked through the supplies and we have […] Read more







(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

U.S. livestock: Cattle futures close higher on strong export data

Chicago | Reuters – U.S. live cattle futures closed higher on Thursday for a third straight day, buoyed by strong weekly beef export sales and signs of firming cash cattle prices, traders said. Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) August live cattle futures settled up 0.275 cent at 101.725 cents per pound while most-active October rose 0.700 […] Read more