July pork exports up 5%, beef exports down 18%

Sep 08, 2023

July was quite an eventful month for our meat industry. Pork was the star, but beef? Well, it had its ups and downs.

Let’s talk about numbers. Data from the bigwigs, USDA and USMEF, paints an exciting picture for pork. July exports rose by 5%, touching 219,014 metric tons. And the cherry on top - The value increased by 1%, hitting $628.7 million. Major applause to our friends in Mexico, Central America, and Canada, who were the star consumers. If we look at the January-July period, we've already beaten last year's numbers by 13% in pork exports.

Beef, on the other hand, had a tough time in July. Exports dropped by a significant 18%, making it the weakest month in half a year. This slump amounted to 103,167 metric tons with a value of just over $810 million. The decline in pork exports is due to lower demand from key Asian markets. Even in the darkest of times, there is always hope. Places like Taiwan and Mexico have kept the flame alive for US beef.

And a quick word on lamb. After a couple of slow months, it made a comeback in July, rising by 22% from last year. Great news for lamb lovers!

July was a mixed bag for the meat industry. Pork is riding high, beef is hoping for better days, and lamb, It’s back in the game.

Source : wisconsinagconnection

Video: Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way

Harvest is a week out and the farm picked this week to fall apart. The truck needs a battery, the barn curtain's got a problem, and the corn and beans are telling us we're out of time to get it all fixed.

So it's a full day of wrenching. Tork supervises while I get the truck back running, then we're out at the hog barn where one rusted up part has the whole curtain system hung up. Ladder work, cable work, and a little dad-and-son disagreement about the right way to do it. We close it out walking the fields, shelling beans and checking corn, because whether everything's fixed or not, harvest starts when harvest starts.

Chapters: 00:00 Everything breaks the week before harvest 01:00 Tork supervises while I fix the truck 12:30 Out to the barn to find the curtain problem 14:30 One rusty part hung up the whole curtain 20:00 Running the curtain cable from the ladder 24:00 Walking the beans and corn before harvest 26:30 Wrapping up

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