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OSU Extension Livestock Market Economist Dr. Derrell Peel regularly offers analysis about the US beef cattle market, and Dr. Peel says that while we have had a little bit of backing up on cattle prices at the end of the year- we are still in the neighborhood of record prices as we wrap up the old year.


Specifically, Peel says "cattle and beef markets are finishing 2014 at or near record levels, which is the way the year began...at or near record levels. However the advance in prices has been much more dramatic in 2014. Retail beef prices are up 15 to 20 percent, following a 5 to 6 percent year over year increase in 2013. Boxed beef wholesale values are up about 25 percent from one year ago, following a 4 to 8 percent increase in 2013. Fed cattle prices are up 28 percent after a 5 percent increase in 2013. Feeder cattle (750-800 lb. steer) prices are roughly 43 percent higher than one year ago after climbing 13 percent in 2013. Most dramatic of all, (450-500 lb. steer) calf prices are up 53 percent this year on top of a 30 percent increase in 2013."

Dr. Peel believes that market conditions will be generally the same in 2015 with tight supplies continuing to be the major driver of cattle and beef markets. Click here to read the rest of his analysis as we rapidly come to the end of the old year.

How To Farm Videos Released by USFRA- We've Got Them All in One Place  

Over a thousand cows milked. 50,000 eggs gathered. Clean barns for 7,000 pigs. One day's work for America's farmers! People can now learn how they do it through U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance's (USFRA) new online "How To Farm" video series that launched today on USFRA's website, FoodDialogues.com.



Hosted by blogger Kelly Snyder (ReDefinedMom.com), USFRA's online video series illustrates different farming practices. The educational videos, which range between two to four minutes, highlight the daily activities of farmers and ranchers across the nation who grow and raise our food. The first four videos give viewers an up-close look at just how farmers grow and raise food, including:   



How To Milk 1,200 Cows (filmed with Brian Rexing at New Generation Dairy in Indiana)

How To Care for 7,000 Pigs (filmed with Art Braundmeier at The Maschhoffs in Illinois)

How To Use Trash to Help Crops Grow (filmed on Len Corzine's farm in Illinois)

How To Gather 50,000 Eggs A Day (filmed with Ron Campbell at Opal Foods in Missouri) 

Click here to learn more about this project that will hopefully offer consumers some transparency about how we raise our food in this country- and at the bottom of our story at this link- we have embedded all four videos to make it easy for your to view all of them at one place.

Best of 2014 Beef Buzzes- Frank Mitloehner Pummels Meatless Monday Concept

Dr. Frank Mitloehner of the University of California Davis is a champion when it comes to telling the story of green house gas emissions as it relates to the beef industry. Through his research, he has found beef cattle produce 1.4 percent of all of the greenhouse gases in the United States- a far smaller percentage than were the numbers often used less than a decade ago.


Earlier in 2014- we caught up with Dr. Mitloehner at his UC Davis office as we were in California visiting one of our daughters and her family.  It was a great conversation that we had with this world renowned authority on cattle and green house gases.   

One of the things that Mitloehner really gets worked up about is people wrongly accusing the beef and dairy industries of harming the environment- often using gimmicks like Meatless Monday to achieve their agenda.   

In this encore Beef Buzz- he dismantles those nut jobs- and you can here his logic by clicking here- and at that link- you will find both our Beef Buzz on this specific area as well as the link to our entire interview with Frank Mitloehner from August of this year.

Monsanto's Fraley to Speak at Kansas State January 26 on Ag and Global Food Challenges Ahead

Robert Fraley, the executive vice president and chief technology officer for Monsanto, has been chosen to be the first speaker in Kansas State University's Henry C. Gardiner Global Food Systems Lecture series.


In 2013, Fraley and two colleagues received the prestigious World Food Prize for their achievements in founding, developing and applying modern agricultural biotechnology.


Fraley will speak at 7 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 26 in McCain Auditorium. The lecture is free and open to students, faculty, staff and the public.


Fraley's talk is titled, "2050: Agriculture's Role In Mitigating Global Challenges."

More details are available here about this presentation as well as the Global Food Systems concept that Kansas State is advancing.

OSU MOOC- Farm to Fork: A Panoramic View of Agriculture- Set to Begin January 12

It is the last call for the OSU inaugural MOOC as modern production agriculture will be under the spotlight as Dr. Bailey Norwood, associate professor in the department of agricultural economics for the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Oklahoma State University, will be using the latest teaching methods to take learning to a new level with a Massive Open Online Course titled Farm to Fork: A Panoramic View of Agriculture.

The 16-week course will be conducted entirely online and is open to anyone. It will focus on topics including livestock-care techniques, the industrialization of agriculture, the impact of local food on the local economy and the role of politics and culture in food. The format of the online course provides Norwood with an opportunity to explore new and contemporary teaching methods. 

It looks like a really interesting on line course- we have signed up to take it as a freebie- no college credit for that- but if you are willing to pay about $600- you can earn three credit hours if you pass(The price for non OSU students).

OSU students can also take it online as well for credit.  

Click here to learn more 

Cattle Feeding Economics Change, But Principals Remain the Same 

Recent lower corn prices mean more cattle are going straight to the feedyard. South Dakota-based Cattle Sense is finding many farmer-feeders won't be backgrounding calves as they learn to feed and finish out the cattle. Longtime South Dakota consultant Dewayne Siebrasse said the market dynamics have shifted, but the core principals of feeding cattle still hold true.


"We still try to maximize the efficiency and try to get the most genetic quality that we have to out of those cattle," Siebrasse said. "You have to fine tune the nutrition, the feed efficiency conversion, the genetic programs have to be fine-tuned to get the maximum efficiencies, in the cattle the maximum daily gains, the average daily gains, the feed efficiencies, feed conversion with your home grown feed stuffs, putting your home grown feed stuffs in the right combinations and the TMR rations to get the right feed efficiencies."

While management is a key part of the puzzle-there are other pieces to consider- click or tap here to read more as well as to have a chance to see a video on the subject courtesy of the Angus folks.

Choice Cutout Values Ending 2014 Twenty Three Percent Higher Than a Year Ago

Ed Czerwein of the USDA Market News office in Amarillo releases a look at the wholesale boxed beef trade of the week before regularly on Monday afternoons- and this week's report is available on our website here.

In his last report for 2014, Ed says "The daily spot Choice box beef cutout ended the week last Fri at 244.52 which was a 5.95 higher. There were only 538 loads sold for the week in the daily box beef cutout which was a typical holiday week and very similar to Thanksgiving week. It was about 10 percent of the total volume so the big jump in price did not help the weekly average that much.

"The Comprehensive or weekly avg Choice cutout which includes all types of sales was 243.46 which was 0.52 lower. There were 5471 loads sold which was 952 loads lower for the week. This was a typical holiday week that was actually just a little better than last year. In fact last year the Choice cutout was at 197 so we are about 46 dollars higher." (That's up 23% on the year!)