Cattle Market Dynamics

Cattle producers face a complex market as economic signals and drought conditions create uncertainty. Ben Brown, agricultural economists with University of Missouri says they are closely watching consumer economic signals and are concerned about potential declines impacting meat prices.

“Quite a few people are nervous that some of the consumer and macroeconomic signals are starting to decline, and that could have an impact on meat prices.”

There's also a concern about the international market, in addition to an ongoing drought, particularly in the middle part of the country, Brown points out that some producers are taking advantage of high cattle prices to sell out often due to retirement,

“I would also say we are seeing some shifts in demographics. You know, that's playing out in the data.

Producers are choosing this as an opportunity to sell out, take advantage of high high cattle prices, sell out. And you know, those cows are are going down the road to a different operation. Well, actually, I take that back, a lot of the cows are entering up in processing facilities.”

The combination of these factors has implications for feed usage, with smaller beef herds contributing to a decline in grain-consuming animal units, while overall feed consumption may see a slight decline. The ag community remains focused on market trends and weather conditions with today's line on agriculture report, I'm Lorrie Boyer for the Ag Information Network.