April 1 2019 Cattle on Feed totaled 12.0 million head; 2 percent above April 1, 2018. This is the highest April 1 inventory since the series began in 1996. The inventory included 7.45 million steers and steer calves, down 1 percent from the previous year. This group accounted for 62 percent of the total inventory. Placements in feedlots during March totaled 2.01 million head, 5 percent above 2018. Marketings of fed cattle during March totaled 1.78 million head, 3 percent below 2018. Other disappearance totaled 69,000 head during March, 3 percent above 2018. ...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.