Today’s WASDE reduced the forecast for red meat and poultry production slightly from the September forecast with higher cow slaughter from culling being offset by lower hog slaughter in Q4, a slower pace of steer and heifer slaughter, and recent trends in poultry hatchery and slaughter data (more on that below).
The outlook for next year is lower production based on lighter feeder cattle placements in early 2022 and tighter supplies of fed cattle in the second half of 2022, lower hog slaughter based on the latest Hogs and Pigs Inventory report, which showed drops in the June to August pig crop and the farrowing intentions for September to November. An interesting change from the September WASDE to today’s report...
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...