In this week’s “Update” Newsletter from Cattle-Fax, the story on page three pretty well sums it up…
As 2011 winds to an end, cash cattle prices have strengthened across all classes, from calves to fed cattle.
CattleFax reports weekly US average steer prices just reached fresh all-time highs for most weight classes…from 450 pounds to 950 pounds…taking out the previous highs! (For lightweight calves, those previous all-time highs were set last April… and for heavier feeders, the all-time highs were set in early July.)
That market was a hot topic at the recent Montana Stockgrowers Convention. In fact, in the Beef Production and Marketing Committee, one of the speakers was Scot Miller of Scot A. Miller and Associates who reminded producers:
The U.S. has the Smallest cow herd in 50 years…
Yet Beef Production is just barely below the record of 2008…because of heavier weights and increased cow slaughter.
Plus, he said Beef Exports are up 20{fe867fa2be02a5a45e8bbb747b653fe2e9d0331fd056b85cd0c1a3542435a96e} in VOLUME….and this year for the first time in history the United States is a net EXPORTER of Beef….exporting 673 Million Pounds more than we imported!
But Scot Miller told these Stockgrowers there are risk factors to watch in 2012:
- An increased value of the US Dollar due to European debt could have a huge impact
- Cattle Feeders are struggling with high break-evens, and losing 50 to 150 dollars a head, despite record high prices
- And he told us to keep an eye on “Demand”, not just this bullish Supply scenario
What’s ahead: CattleFax says calf prices are expected to work higher through the first quarter…and that has created a lot of optimism!
Source: CattleFax, Scot A. Miller and Associates
Posted by Taylor Brown & Haylie Shipp
