File photo of cattle on feed near Champion, Alta., about 75 km north of Lethbridge. (James_Gabbert/iStock/Getty Images)

Tighter fed cattle supplies support feeder market

U.S. beef producers are not yet holding back enough heifers for expansion

During the first week of June, Alberta packers were buying fed cattle on a live basis at $261 per hundredweight, f.o.b, feedlot in southern Alberta, up $4/cwt from a month earlier. Market-ready supplies of fed cattle were sharply above year-ago levels earlier in winter, but the backlog has slowly been alleviated through the spring period. […] Read more



The beef cattle industry is bracing for a level of heifer retention this summer and fall that's expected to lower the feeder cattle supply.

Lower feedlot placements support cattle market

Cow-calf producers should think about selling calves in late summer versus fall

During the last week of April, Alberta packers were buying fed cattle on a live basis in the range of $256-$258 per hundredweight delivered, up $18/cwt from three weeks earlier. Alberta fed cattle basis levels have strengthened as market-ready supplies tighten. In Kansas and Texas, live sales, f.o.b. feedlot, were reported at US$182/cwt, down US$3/cwt […] Read more






(HLS.ca/virden)

Flu outbreak sees buyers balk at beef futures

Cash prices fairly level; beef producers should look into risk management tools, analysts say

Markets have seen cattle futures (mainly live and fed) decline in recent weeks as the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) strain made its way into dairy herds in six states to date. The good news, said a cattle auction leader and market expert, is that cash prices have remained more-or-less steady amid the chaos.


Nearly half of a beef carcass is consumed by consumers with average to above-average incomes.

How consumer spending drives fed cattle prices

Here's why a small change in spending affects the beef market

Cattle producers are bombarded with charts and data from cattle inventory reports and cattle on feed surveys. During the fall of 2023, live cattle futures and were trending lower. Every analyst I was reading was focused on how low supplies were from a historical perspective; however, fed cattle prices were on a downward spiral. It’s […] Read more

Kit Pharo says ranchers can increase their production per acre and their profitability.

A key to cattle business survival

Produce more pounds of beef per acre versus more pounds per cow, this U.S. rancher says

North America producers are receiving higher prices for cattle than ever before — “yet very few are really profitable,” Kit Pharo says. Most cow-calf producers “are too dependent on outside inputs, which are also at record-high costs,” says Pharo, who operates Pharo Cattle Company in Colorado and was the keynote speaker at the recent Holistic […] Read more