Whirlwind

Sale Barn Study

contributed article by Kirk Lynch Lynch Livestock Inc. and Humeston Livestock Exchange, Humeston, Iowa humestonlivestockexchange.com

A review of the current cattle market.

ell, it is safe to say that this is something that most of us have never seen before. With the overall volatility in the market it has been nothing but a whirlwind and your guess is as good as mine as to when this rollercoaster might end and at what level. I have been told before that I am the eternal optimist when it comes to markets, and I believe there is a bunch of opportunity coming our way.

If you would look at the futures board, you would think that the sky is falling, and it most certainly was for the last couple of weeks. In 3 weeks, we have lost just about $30 off both the fat cattle and futures markets. As I type this, I am going to give you a glimmer of hope moving forward. From what I have seen in the sale barns over the last couple of days, there is about a +20 basis on fat cattle and about +$25-30 on the feeder cattle that are selling thru the barns. You need to remember that even in crisis mode, people need to eat, and they are cleaning out all the meat off the shelves, which has helped W

WHIRLWIND

push the cash bids up over the last 2 days. This will continue to work in our favor as we try to get back to “normal” over the next couple of months on the fat cattle side of things.

As far as feeder cattle, the lighter calves (600 pounds and less) were not affected much during this mar ket as I believe many people think that we are set up to have a decent 3rd and 4th quarter of the year if we can get through this pandemic by summer. The bigger cattle have taken a hit and with reason. There was and is a lot of uncertainty on what the market will be when these cattle are finished out. If we continue to trade cash cattle $15-20 higher than the board, then great, these things make a lot of sense. But if we use board prices it is hard to make them work. Another positive note is the fat Holstein prices have been hanging in very strong with really good ones bringing as much or more than the fat cattle board is today in the low 90s.

The cull cow and bull markets have taken off and have been very strong even through this downfall in the market. I have seen some fat cows bring in the 70s and fat bulls around 90. Not sure how long this will continue, but this market has been strong in comparison to the fat cattle market and feeder mar kets.

On the bred side of things there hasn’t been too many moving with all the uncertainty in the market, but the ones that have been selling are bringing as much now as they were before this whole dilemma started. As far as breeding bulls, this market has been very strong as well, as I believe most people believe a breeding bull is an invest ment, and this will all pass.

Just remember everyone must eat even when things are at their worst. We will get through this! One of my favorite sayings is, “if it was easy everyone would do it.” That cannot be truer than the times we are going through right now. Wishing everyone a Happy Easter and safe spring!

Kirk Lynch, Lynch Livestock Inc., Waucoma, IA Kirk is the Beef Division manager for Lynch Livestock Inc. and oversees all aspects of their backgrounding and cattle feeding operations throughout Iowa and Kansas. He is also deeply involved in the newly re-opened Humeston Livestock Exchange in Humeston, Iowa. In addition, Kirk and his wife Mary own and operate Heartland Simmentals in Northeast Iowa, which is a seed stock operation that consists of 500 registered Simmental and Angus cows. They have three children: Gabrielle, 6, Brayden, 4, and Vivian, 2.

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