Sale Barn Study
A review of the current cattle market.
contributed article by Kirk Lynch Lynch Livestock Inc. and Humeston Livestock Exchange, Humeston, Iowa
humestonlivestockexchange.com
CURVEBALL bottoming out. The packers were handed a reason to pad their pockets even more, and they jumped on it. All reports are showing that more total cattle were harvested the week after the fire compared to the week before the fire. With all that being said, I believe there was good reason for panic right after the fire, but as the dust settles, I believe the market will rebound rather quickly. As we saw last week, packers were able to find the space in other plants to make up for the 5% loss
at Tyson. Not to mention, as they made record profits, they will find a way to harvest as many cattle as possible. It is not as if the demand for beef has gone away. We haven’t seen much of a change in the cull cow/bull market, and the Holsteins have backed off some. The feeder prices have been a little hit and miss. I have seen some sell where this fat cattle dip in the market didn’t affect what they brought (this may be attributed to the price of corn also). I have not seen much price
September 2019
Life is full of curveballs and this past week we were thrown a big one in the cattle markets. Probably the biggest one since the “Mad Cow” scares. Those markets had good reason for the bottom falling out; this situation, I believe, is completely different. The fire at the Tyson plant in Kansas scared people into thinking we would have a major backlog and pile up of cattle. It was unheard of that box beef prices would go up the amount they did with the board and cash markets just
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