USDA’s monthly cattle on feed report for 1 April will be released tomorrow. Analysts’ pre-report consensus estimates are for the total inventory on feed to be 99.3 percent of last year. Those estimates imply an on-feed inventory of 11.6 million head.
The big line item to watch again this month will be the March placement data, as it has been the wild card for several months. But based on Dow Jones' survey of analysts, the range of placement estimates is not as wide this month, and most believe that they will land somewhere around 93.5 percent of year-ago levels, or an implied total of 1.72 million head. It is worth noting that 2025 placements were lower in February, at 1.554 million head, the largest decline in February placeme...
What You Need to Know Today: The U.S. and Iran exchanged strikes, with the U.S. hitting Iranian bridges, energy sites, and military infrastructure. Iran launched a missile into Kuwait that damaged a desalination plant. Crude oil futures surged on heightened Middle East tensions, providing supp...
Congress returned this week from its Fourth of July recess, with another break scheduled for the month of August, to face a busy agenda before adjourning for the August recess. Congress has several priorities, including the National Defense Authorization Act, a potential third reconciliation pa...
There was a time, not so long ago, when you could easily explain U.S. agricultural policy. It was countercyclical and focused on risk management, especially for traditional row crops. There were a few exceptions, like dairy and sugar, which maintained the remnants of supply control. Participati...
