04/26/05 Analyst on cattle on feed report

American Rancher April 26, 2005 A fairly healthy report. This is how USDA livestock market analyst Ron Gustafson described the department's April Cattle on Feed Report issued last Friday. That report showed there were three percent fewer cattle placed into feedlots in March than there were in March of 2004. Marketings out of feedlots were equal to March last year and the feedlot inventory at the start of April was up only one percent from April a year ago. Gustafson says the whole situation, including the hold on the opening of the U.S. border to Canadian cattle, is feeding into a good price scenario for everybody. Gustafson: "We still have feeder cattle prices, which is the most important raw product that goes into the cattle feeding sector, up around $110-112 a hundredweight near record levels. Fed cattle prices right now are extremely strong. Towards the end of April we are seeing fed cattle prices averaging up to the mid-90`s and bailed out a lot of cattle feeders. They are probably breaking even and making a little bit of money right now." Gustafson says signals point to continued tight supplies and high prices for the next few months. A cold storage report also showed a draw down in beef stocks in coolers of ten percent from a year ago and they were down seven percent from last month. Private analysts says both that cold storage report and the cattle on feed report show that demand remains alive and well and that we are quite current on numbers, which is going to be supportive for prices. I'm Bob Hoff.