Today’s WASDE showed USDA’s red meat and broiler production forecast up from last month reflecting a faster than expected recovery from slaughter plant shutdowns, backlogs and reconfigured operations. Slaughter was down the last week of May due to Memorial Day, but last week rebounded by more than 25 percent for both hogs and cattle. The WASDE revised last month’s total beef, pork and broilers production forecast for the year to be slightly above (0.05 percent) 2019. The 2021 forecast is 2.6 percent above the 2020 projected output.
Cattle slaughter is still 6.7 percent below last year’s pace year-to-date, but beef production is down less at 4.4 percent based on heavier weights. Total weekly cattle slaughter...
What You Need to Know Today: Commodities were mostly lower across the board today after yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting hinted at a potential interest rate hike later in 2026. The dollar index reached its highest level in over a year, and a strong dollar makes U.S. agricultural expor...
Tomorrow is the Juneteenth federal holiday, and the USDA, along with the rest of the federal government and the CME, will be closed, so the monthly Cattle on Feed report was released a day early. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity on 1 June amounted...
