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Friday's Internet Edition, 01:08 PM, September 03, 2010.
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Do you remember when?
The Record Stockman would like to share with it’s readers some of the wonderful photos in our photo archives. Irrigation comes to the plains Photographer E. K. Edwards. Picture taken May 10, 1950. This is a Caterpillar Diesel D315 Engine driving a Worthington 10” pump (Owned by Camillo Bros) is irrigating 160 acres, 12 miles south of Monte Vista, Colorado Couldn’t find anything out about the Worthington Water Pump on the internet We Invite Reader Participation. If you have any past or present information or corrections about the photo’s (people, animals, places) we publish in this section, we would very much like to share good hearted information with our readers. You can e-mail your comments to janhulm@recordstockman.com |
Theopolis Waters
- Last Friday’s U.S. Department of Agriculture cattle-on-feed and semiannual cattle inventory reports showed the industry is getting itself back on track after an unprofitable 2009.
The on-feed report showed that the number of cattle placed into the nation’s feedlots in June was up about 17% from a year earlier at 1.628 million head.
This was below the average of analysts’ estimates of a 20.3% gain, but still within the range of their estimates.
However, compared with the five-year average of 1.656 million, placements in June were down about 2%, said Tyler Keeling, market analyst for Amarillo Brokerage Co. Cattle feeders tried to avoid placing cattle on feed last year because of the prospect of losing money on their investments.
Still, placements were a bit less than many traders were expecting, said Brian Hoops, market analyst with Midwest Market Solutions.
For Keeling, the biggest surprise was that the number of cattle marketed for slaughter in June was lower than many had expected. This does not indicate that cattle feeders held cattle off the market in June, as it might if conditions had been different, he said.
Estimated packer margins in June were quite profitable, sending their buyers into the field to keep the plants full and operating efficiently, Keeling said.
Also, the fact that the USDA’s number of cattle left on feed at the end of the month was below the five-year average, shows that cattle feeders weren’t holding cattle back.
In fact, it paid cattle feeders to sell cattle as soon as they became ready for slaughter, Keeling said. Cash prices in June were above the nearby futures price, making it more advantageous to sell cattle rather than to hold for further weight gains and a higher per-head price. As long as the market remains this way, cattle feeders can be expected to sell readily, preventing cattle from backing up in the feedlots and getting larger, he said.
The cattle inventory report offered no surprises. It just showed that the number of total cattle and calves in the U.S. herd continues to shrink slowly.
Analysts contacted after the report’s release said this will be a strong supportive factor in cash and futures markets for months since supplies will remain tight.
“Judging by what cash cattle prices did this week, and the placements shown in the report, the data should be bullish for October and December futures,”said a CME live cattle trader
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The cattle market was undergirded by higher fed cattle, very untraditional for midsummer, and a major competitor's rally. U.S. hog futures rallied further on Friday, with August reaching the highest price for a lead contract since mid-May, on higher pork prices and after a government report on Thursday showed a drop in pork supplies. Fund rolling of long August positions into back months and fund buying lifted most 2011 contracts to new highs. The hog market gained upward traction late this week as cash markets turned higher, with wholesale pork now at the highest level in seven weeks. The market got an added boost late on Thursday when a U.S. Agriculture Department report showed a huge drop in pork stocks last month. “I guess the exports numbers are OK,” said Peter Adams, principal at PNM Trading. “The (storage) report is adding to strength in the product.” USDA reported 410.05 million lbs of pork in storage at the end of June, down 17 percent from May, 29 percent from a year ago, and the smallest June supply since 2004. Industry analysts attributed the drop in pork supplies to strong exports and slower production this year. Earlier this month, USDA reported year-to-date pork exports through May up 4.6 percent from a year earlier.. Cattle futures ranged on both sides unchanged during the day in light trade and finished mostly higher with trend following funds rolling long August positions into October. USDA released its monthly Cattle on Feed Report Friday after the close and the report showed on-feed supplies on July 1 at 103.3 percent of last year. This was very close to the average guess of 103.4 percent. Placements showed a double-digit increase during June as expected. But the USDA number at 117 percent of last year was under the average analyst estimate of 120.5 percent. Also after the close USDA put the mid-year Cattle Inventory number at 100.8 million head, 98.8 percent of last year. This was exactly what analysts had expected and the smallest cattle herd since the mid-year survey began in 1973. Losses in the cattle industry the past few years had producers shrinking herds. |
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