What's Causing Beef Markets to Spike? Livestock Marketing Information Center's Jim Robb Explains

Four weeks in a row now, producers have watched cash cattle prices climb higher, as much as $20, with the highest price levels since August 2015. Wholesale boxed beef trade also performing well lately, up over $1600 cwt last week alone, and starting this week another $2-3 cwt higher on choice and select box beef trade. Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays spoke with Jim Robb of the Livestock Marketing Information Center to get a handle on what is causing this unprecedented upward movement in the market.

 

 

“The reasons we’ve had this rally are largely tied to our marketing rate,” he answered pointing to the needs of packers and a very current market situation. “The other thing we’ve had this year that has added on - a lot of hedged cattle this year.”

 

Robb continued describing more or less a chain reaction in the market from the hedging that impacted the basis, causing a rally in the futures which led more cattle being sold to packers early on rather than being delayed. But Robb says patterns like this tend not to perpetuate. According to him, this feels like a spike in the market more than anything, noting that if you dig deeper, volume numbers seemed to evaporate.

Video: Ask A Farmer: How are broiler chickens raised in Canada?

As more and more Canadians become removed from farms and ranches, many people have questions about how animals are being raised on Canadian farms. Tiffany Martinka is active on social media and has made a point of sharing how their family farm takes care of their chickens. In this podcast, Tiffany explains the audited programs that all Canadian farmers must follow and describes how this system of raising chickens is unique in a global setting.

The main points of this podcast include:

What it is like on a broiler chicken farm and the process that chicken farmers go through.

The different programs that farmers must follow, and be audited on, to be licensed to sell broiler chicken in Canada.

The full circle of practices on Tiffany’s family farm, including growing their own feed for chickens, then recycling the manure back onto the fields to grow future crops.