Market Report Archives June 2006
Posted: Thursday, June 29, 2006
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Enid, OK: Market Report for June 27, 2006
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It’s almost unbelievable how this market has come up! 900 pound steers that were only worth $85.00 two months ago are now bringing over $105.00, and they can’t buy them fast enough! The futures board has come up ten dollars or better in the same period, and are sitting at all time or record highs!
Where’s all the enthusiasm coming from? Supposedly, Japan is going to start buying beef again. That anticipation is certainly helping the market, but the facts say that demand for our beef is fantastic! It sure seems funny that our cattle market can sustain these record levels for several years without Japan, but all of a sudden it can jump up ten dollars a hundred! It seems like there is much more demand out there than what we are being told.
For the last few years, the packers have only been putting a little over 600,000 a week through the plants, but the last couple of months the kill levels have been around 700,000 a week. They say the demand isn’t there, but yet cut out values are over $150.00 on the choice grades, and fat cattle have gotten higher.
Another thing that doesn’t make much sense is how cattle are grading going through the packing plants. According to all reports, cattle are only grading 55% choice! How is that possible? We have dramatically changed the genetics and husbandry practices in the last few years, just like all the associations wanted us to. We are feeding cattle in the feedyards 30 to 60 days longer than we used to, just like the packers wanted us to. Everybody is trying to buy black cattle, because they are supposed to grade better, yet cattle are grading worse overall than they ever have!
It shows up in our supermarkets too. Right here in the heart of feeding country, it is dang near impossible to go to any grocery store and find choice meat or better. The prices are all jacked up, but the better product doesn’t seem to be available. The worst thing though, is that some of the meat has had water added to it just like the chickens and hogs. So, we’re not only paying more for lesser quality meat, but we also have to buy water by the pound?
NO SALE NEXT TUESDAY, JULY 4TH, 2006!
GOD BLESS AMERICA!
We already have 1000 yearlings consigned for the week of July 11th! Please give us a call for any of your marketing needs! And Thank You for all your business!
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Posted: Thursday, June 22, 2006
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Enid, OK: Market Report for June 20, 2006
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It’s almost like Christmas in June. Feeder cattle on the futures board are right back up against their all time highs, feeder cattle at the auctions are bringing almost what they did last January, and we just got up to two inches of rain!
Fat cattle went from $77.00 last Wednesday to over $80.00 on Friday. It still makes no sense how a fat animal can be worth $100.00 a head more or less in two days time when the product in the supermarket doesn’t change price in months or years. The kill levels have gone up almost 10% from a year ago, so apparently there is a lot more demand for our products than we are being led to believe.
Even with the nice rains last week, grass and feed are still very short. There are still lots of places that have not received any moisture and lots of folks have to sell cows or calves to make the feed last. Good quality hay is hard to find and costing $50.00 a ton more than a year ago. Add that to the cost of fuel, and it looks like it could be pretty expensive to operate this year.
We had 1100 head here in Enid this week, with a fantastic market! Almost all the yearlings going north, with a good chunk of cows and calves going the same way. Light weight calves to $155.00 with stockers bringing up to $120.00. Feeder steers selling from $103.00 to $115.00, and heifers bringing up to $116.00 on some lighter yearlings.
SPECIAL MONTHLY COW SALE NEXT TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2006!
EXPECTING OVER 1000 PAIRS, BRED HFRS, AND BRED COWS!
Edwards Ranch Dispersal 150 blk/bwf/red pairs, 2-10, with Angus sired calves
50 Blk/Bwf heifers, bred to lbw Angus bulls
50 Eng/Exotx cows, bred to Angus/Limo bulls
11 Blk bulls, Angus/Limx, Colo origin, 2-3 yr
WW Land & Cattle 60 Ang/Limx cows, bred to Ang/Char/Limo bulls
2-8 yrs old, fall and spring calvers
Gartin Farms 65 Eng/Exotx cows, 3-10 yrs old, bred to Ang/Char
T Bar Cattle Co 20 Angx cows, bred to Angus bulls, 5-8 yrs old
McDaniels Farms 30 Angus pairs, 6-10 yrs, running back with Angus
Frank Hodgden 30 Bwf/Rwf cows, with Ang/Herf sired calves, 4-8 yr
Warfield Ranch 20 Angus cows, out of registered stock
J & J Ranches 100 Blk/Bwf pairs, 2nd calves, out of Angus bulls
Our docks are open every day, 24/7. Call anytime if you have questions!
The sale will start at 10:00 am, with the pairs selling at noon. The sale will be broadcast live over the internet, at www.cattleusa.com, if you are unable to attend in person. Give us a call if you need help setting up!
NO SALE TUESDAY, JULY 4, 2006
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Posted: Thursday, June 15, 2006
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Enid, OK: Market Report for June 13, 2006
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The market continues to hold very strong! There is unbelievable demand for feeder cattle and calves. Many yearlings are going north to the cheaper feed areas, with stocker cattle seeing demand from a lot of areas. Some of these yearlings are over $100.00 a head higher than they were six weeks ago, while fat cattle might be the same at best.
Calves have seen a little rise in demand, but it’s still fairly dry around most of the grazing areas. It looks like there might be several calves show up this summer instead of this fall with folks trying to save pasture for the cows. That may not be a bad idea with three weight calves bringing $500.00 a head!
Butcher cows are running 40% heavier than last year, and the prices are reflecting that. The moisture situation is by far the biggest thing to worry about. It looks like we might have another year of big drought sales in western Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. There have already been several good runs of pairs and bred cows across the area.
So far, the price of gas has not completely stopped movement of cattle, but a person would think it would sure put a damper on it. Transportation for cattle is costing anywhere from $5.00 to $30.00 a head depending on how many a person is shipping. There doesn’t seem to be any discounts for short hauls either, it costs just as much to haul one 10 miles as it does to haul one 200 miles. How do you make sense of that?
Be on the lookout for opportunities this summer! Unless it rains over a big area, there will be a lot of cattle offered this summer. It might be one of those times that if a person just has a home for cattle, there might be some money to be made!
In Enid this week, we had a very nice selection of calves off the cow. Light weights were bringing up to $155.00 with stockers up to $120.00. Feeder steers up to $107.00 with heavy heifers to $94.00. Butcher cows selling from $35.00 to $45.00, with bulls bringing up to $62.00. Pairs and bred cows ranging from $600.00 to $1300.00.
SPECIAL PAIR, BRED COW AND DROUGHT SALE THIS MONTH!
TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2006:
Edwards Ranch Complete Drought Dispersal
150 Blk/Bwf/Red/Rwf pairs, 3-10 years old, big calves
50 Bred cows, 4-8 yrs old, bred to blk bulls
` 50 Bred heifers, bred to Sutphin Ranch low birth weight bulls
11 Blk bulls, 2-3 yrs old, gtd
150 Ang/Char/Limx heifers, off short grass, 575 to 700 lbs, green!
50 Ang/Char/Limx steers, off short grass, 600 to 700 lbs
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Posted: Wednesday, June 7, 2006
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Enid, OK: Market Report for June 6, 2006
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Another excellent market this week! Yearling cattle appear to be going up faster than they came down. The light yearlings still bringing about the same money as earlier, but the big, heavy feeders are $100.00 higher than just a month or two ago! Bred cows and pairs are still selling decent, although not at the levels they were when it was wet. Fat cattle are several dollars higher, making the feeders a little more attractive.
The futures board has played a very large role in the cattle cycle. When it first came out, you basically had to own the cattle in order to hedge or play on the board. Nowadays you don’t even have to know which end they eat from in order to buy and sell futures contracts. There also is no delivery on feeders, which makes playing the board that much easier for amateurs who have no cattle.
The board is also the reason these big cattle are worth $82.00 one week and $92.00 ten days later. It looks like they will come out at a better time, although 7 days really doesn’t make any difference on their weights, their performance or the profit or loss. The packers take away 4 percent of the herd just in weight, and may wait 14 days to pick them up, and in some places, 14 days to pay for them. See anything wrong with that picture?
Corn and its by-products have also helped make an excellent market. Several folks with the bins and the location are able to take big advantage of this. A large feedyard has a big chunk of feed already purchased, without the advantage of the by-products, and the cost of gain can vary $15.00/cwt! That makes a huge difference on the buying end of the feeders and calves.
There won’t be very many yearlings showing up this summer. Crab grass is not coming on, and there is still a very large area that has not received any significant rain. If this continues, we may not see any yearlings, but we will sure see plenty of cows and calves! Having a home for cattle at the right time has made a trainload of money in the past. Start looking!
Thank You to all of our buyers and sellers!
Frank Hodgden 5 mix-bulls 369 @ $144.00
Frank Hodgden 5 mix-hfrs 264 @ $147.00
Steve Hoffsummer 16 blk-hfrs 396 @ $139.00
MC Cattle Co 5 blk-strs 579 @ $113.00
MC Cattle Co 10 blk-hfrs 560 @ $110.00
Rick Graham 25 blk-strs 794 @ $107.25
Rick Graham 31 blk-hfrs 759 @ $103.50
C.E.James 14 Ang-str 844 @ $105.00
Jim Edwards 69 mix-hfrs 741 @ $101.50
Max Acton 54 blk-strs 957 @ $95.85
Max Acton 49 blk-strs 1128 @ $89.75
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Posted: Thursday, June 1, 2006
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Enid, OK: Market Report for May 30, 2006
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It’s amazing how this market continues to get higher. Just a month ago it looked like big steers weighing 900 to 1000 pounds would only bring $82.00 to $85.00, now they are bringing $90.00 to $100.00. That’s over $100.00 a head difference! It sure seems like timing is pretty important.
With so many feeders and companies hedging cattle and contracting cattle, the weight and time of selling plays a bigger role than it used to. At one time, steers were all worth about $800.00, whether they weighed 800 or 1000 pounds. Now, we’re seeing some of the bigger cattle actually bring more dollars a head like they’re supposed to. This might be a reflection of the market, or it might just tell us we’re short of numbers.
So far the wheat crop is about like expected, not very good in Oklahoma. Yields so far have ranged from 14 to 26 bushels around. It sure looks like there might be better wheat yet to be cut, but now we’ve been getting some rain! Every little bit will help in the long run, and I’m sure everyone appreciates it!
Yearling numbers look like they will be very low this summer and fall. Grass pastures have been sitting empty waiting on rain, and crab grass hasn’t started to really come on yet. It could be a good summer to have some yearlings, with good demand and low supply! Lots of folks are considering selling some cows and calves to relieve the grass. They are still bringing good money, so that may not be a bad idea.
Keep an eye on the corn. Wheat is sitting at pretty high levels, but with not much moisture, and ending stocks record low, corn could have a large impact on calves and feeders. Not to mention the ethanol plants going up all around the world. It was just a short 10 years ago that corn got high and calves were bringing $50.00 to $60.00! Isn’t it amazing that in just ten years, a 400 lb steer calf could go from $60.00/cwt to $150.00!
We will be open all through the summer! Our next monthly cow sale will be the last Tuesday of June! We will be closed on July 4, 2006. Our internet sales will of course be listed everyday! Don’t forget to watch all the sales live on the internet at www.cattleusa.com!
Coming next Tuesday, June 6, 2006:
100 Fancy, angus cross steers, home raised, off grass, 900 to 1000 pounds
75 Fancy, angus/red angus cross strs/hfrs, home raised, off grass, 600 to 700 pounds
50 Choice, Hereford sired steers, home raised, 850 to 950 lbs
40 Angus cross cows and calves, 5 to 10 yrs old, calves weighing 300 lbs
25 Fancy, angus sired calves, off the cow, 350 to 450 lbs, excellent condition
Thank You for all your business
Weston Winter
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