Cow Cull Market Has Held Relatively Well

At last week's joint mid-year meeting of the Idaho Cattle Association and the Washington Cattlemen's Association Livestock Marketing Information Center Director Jim Robb shared one portion of the beef market has held up better than most

Robb: "Well the slaughter cows have really not declined in proportion to the fed cattle market. They have held up rather well. Now they are under some pressure and they are lower than a year ago. But really the dynamics in the market place that drive slaughter cow prices are imports. Much of that imported product especially from Australia, New Zealand and Urgray goes into the type of meats we produce from slaughter cows; so it is competitive there — we've had huge amounts imports. We have large amounts of that product in frozen cold-storage stocks. We're starting to work those off, so we are pulling on those products. And then as we've lowered our dress weights of heifers and steers — that is part of the story too — where we have had a little less trim that is the 50s-type trim coming into the market place. So overall that slaughter cow market holds up a little better especially for the next several months. The lowest prices will still seasonally be in the fall — that is when we cull most of our beef cows in the United States. But we think the real unraveling will be mitigated on slaughter cows because of these international influences are more of an impact in that market place than they are in the steer and heifer market place especially from an imported market perspective."