Topic
17 stories, newest first.
At $400 for a 500-pound calf and $330 for a 700-pounder, every pound you add after weaning is worth something, but the price slide takes a bite out of it. How to figure the value of gain from the sale barn report, what it costs to put a pound on, and when the answer is sell now.
4d ago
Culls are 15 to 20 percent of a cow-calf operation's income, and the market for them has a seasonal pattern as reliable as the calendar. Prices bottom when everybody culls, in November and December, and peak in spring. When to sell a thin cow, when to feed her first, and how the grades work.
Oct 5
Once a month USDA tells you how many cattle are in the big feedlots, how many went in, and how many came out. The numbers move the market for a week. What each line means, what the trade is really watching, and why placements are the one that matters for a cow-calf operator.
Sep 27
Pulling calves off the cow and hauling them to the sale barn the same day is the most expensive way to wean. Fenceline and two-step weaning keep the calf eating, keep the cow calm, and put pounds on before the truck comes. How to set it up and what it costs.
Sep 26
At $400 a hundredweight, a $10 difference in how you market is $55 a head. What each channel pays, what it costs, and who it fits. Plus the three things buyers pay premiums for no matter where you sell.
Sep 25
Livestock Risk Protection puts a floor under the price you get for calves, subsidized 35 to 55 percent by USDA. With the market at records and tariff headlines in the news, this is what the coverage actually does and what it costs.
Sep 12
An open cow eats $400 of hay this winter and gives you nothing in April. With cull cow prices near record highs and hay short, the fall preg check is the single most profitable hour you will spend in the chute this year.
Sep 11
The national cattle herd sits at a multi-decade low and demand is the strongest in forty years. What's missing is heifer retention — which is why analysts keep pushing real expansion out another year.
Sep 10
South Dakota pasture values rose nearly 16 percent even as the drought footprint doubled. Nebraska alfalfa is up $10 to $20, Wyoming baled hay up to $30. A state-by-state look at what feed is costing going into fall.
Sep 10
A late-August rally built on falling crop ratings and Black Sea shipping trouble has the trade looking for USDA to cut the corn yield below 180 on September 11. Cattle feeders are watching the same report from the other side.
Sep 9
USDA wants the herd rebuilt. The market is paying you not to. A worked example of what a retained heifer has to be worth in 2028 to beat selling her in October 2026, and the three things that decide it.
Sep 9
The 90-day tariff pause on Brazilian and Argentine beef drew immediate fire from cattle groups and Republican lawmakers. The September 4 executive orders on labeling and direct sales were the response.
Sep 5
Winter wheat that goes in early enough to graze has never been worth more. But planting ahead of the Hessian fly-free date, in a warm fall, trades grazing days for a stand you may lose. The dates by region and the math on gain.
Sep 5
Bovine respiratory disease is still the biggest killer of weaned calves, and most of the cases trace back to timing. A practical fall processing plan for spring-born calves, with what to give, when, and why the order matters.
Sep 5
August Class III came in at $16.64. With feed costs climbing on the grain rally, the September Dairy Margin Coverage margin is projected around $8.23, under the $8.50 Tier I trigger. Payments are expected through December.
Sep 3
Placements down 11 percent, marketings down 7 percent, both record lows for July. On-feed inventory is still 2 percent above last year because cattle are staying on feed longer. What the numbers say about the next six months.
Sep 2
Heifer-retention insurance, a guaranteed loan program for regional packers, and a federal buy-American-beef push headline the August 31 announcement. What is real money and what is still a proposal.
Sep 1
