The cattle market has been on a downward trend in recent weeks. Livestock Marketing Information Center (LMIC) Director Jim Robb said in terms of the slaughter market, he thinks the market has reached its bottom for 2015.


"I think it's on the fed cattle side, we kind of groped through a bottoming process here over the last couple of weeks in the fed cattle, seems like we put that in, probably gravitate slowly higher toward the fourth quarter this year," Robb said. "A little bit still topsy turvy, we don't have a lot cattle moving between the feedlots and the packers, but seems like we're setting up a bit of foundation to move the market a little bit higher."


As herd expansion gets underway in the United States, fewer cows and calves are being sold through auction barns. That has also translated over the fat cattle market, where it has become harder to establish a market with fewer cattle sold.


"We have overall rather tight supplies in feedlots and then we have a thinning market in terms of cash trade, especially in the Southern Plains," Robb said. "So it's a little harder to get your arms around the market. Wholesale beef market has been pretty well established, although it's been softer."


One area that has been weak, has been demand for non-meat carcass items. This includes items such as hides and internal organs like tongue and liver, which are predominately exported. With lower demand, Robb said that has put a drag on the market.


I caught up with Jim Robb at the Southern Plains Beef Symposium held Saturday in Ardmore, Oklahoma. Click or tap here to listen to this Beef Buzz feature.

The nation's corn and soybean crops continue to hold strong in terms of quality, while maturity has surpassed the five year average. That's according to the latest crop progress report released Monday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In the top 18 corn producing states in the nation, crop condition held steady with last week. Overall the crop rated 70 percent good to excellent condition. Crop maturity came in one point ahead of the five-year average with 50 percent of the crop in the dough stage.


The nation's soybean crop gained one point in the highest level category with 14 percent of the crop in excellent condition. In the top 18 soybean producing states in the nation, 63 percent of the crop was in good to excellent condition. The maturity of the crop was three points ahead of the five year average with 69 percent of the crop setting pods.


The nation's cotton crop gained two points in the fair category over last week. In the 15 main cotton producing states, USDA reported 56 percent of the crop rated in good to excellent condition. That's four point higher than the 2014 crop this week. USDA reported 68 percent of the crop was setting bolls, behind the five-year average of 79.


Sorghum crop continues to rate better than last year's crop. USDA has 67 percent of the crop in good to excellent condition. That compares with 59 percent of the crop rated in good to excellent condition a year ago. Maturity was running eight points ahead of the five year average with 72 percent of the crop headed.

Click here for the full national crop progress report.

Historic rains during late spring and early summer virtually eliminated the drought that plagued Oklahoma for much of the past five years. Rainfall totals by the end of July were recorded at 32.91 inches since March 1st. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Monday reported the state's corn crop rated 63 percent good to excellent condition, down one point from last week. Corn doughing reached 50 percent, down 28 points from average. Soybeans rated 56 percent good to excellent, unchanged from last week. The state's cotton crop rated 77 percent good to excellent, up three points since last week. Cotton settling bolls reached 62 percent, up 12 points from normal. Sorghum rated 79 percent good to excellent, down one point from last week. Sorghum headed reached 63 percent with coloring at 21 percent. The peanut crop rated 83 percent good to excellent. Click here for the full Oklahoma report.


Sorghum and corn harvest was in full swing in Texas. USDA reports 33 percent of the sorghum crop has been harvested. That remains behind last year's 45 and the five-year average of 47 percent harvested by this time. Corn harvest progressed to 23 percent. That's ahead of last year but behind the average of 31. USDA reports 57 percent of the state's corn crop was in good to excellent condition, soybeans rated 45 percent good to excellent, down two points since last week. Cotton rated 48 percent good to excellent, down one point from last week. Pasture and range conditions rated 42 percent good to excellent, down ten points from last week. Click here for the full Texas report.


Crops in Kansas showed some improvement over last week's crop progress report. The Kansas corn crop rated 59 percent good to excellent, unchanged from last week. Dough was at 60 percent, near last year's 64 percent, behind average of 67. The state's soybean crop rated 52 percent good to excellent, up two points from last week. Blooming was at 75 percent and setting pods was at 45 percent. Sorghum rated 68 percent good to excellent, up one point from last week. Sorghum headed reached 60 percent, which is ahead of last year's 41 and average of 48. Cotton rated 62 percent good to excellent, down one point from last week. Squaring was 83 percent, while setting bolls was at 42 percent. Click here for the full Kansas report.

At the beginning of 2015, foodservice distributor Performance Food Group added Dr. Brad Morgan to their corporate leadership team as the Senior Director of Protein for the national company. Dr. Morgan told participants at the Southern Plains Beef Sympsoium in Ardmore this past Saturday that one of his roles with PFG is to help develop branded meat products that can be marketed nationally to more than 150,000 independent and national chain restaurants, quick-service eateries, pizzerias, theaters, schools, hotels, health care facilities and other institutions.


Dr. Morgan began his career as a professor in Meat Science at several Land Grant schools- including Oklahoma State University. He most recently worked as Director of Beef Operations for Zoetis before accepting the position with PFG. While he was at the SPBS, we sat down and visited with him about some of the concepts that he is working on to sell beef and pork to restaurants- big and small- across the country.

Dr. Morgan said Performance Food Group aims to take any food product beyond being a commodity. In working with the food service industry, he said they have set out to give restaurant owners what they want, whether that's a lighter carcass, a smaller ribeye or an ideal amount of fat or marbling.   He said they are listening to their customers and creating products that their customers desire for their restaurants.


Brad explained to the Symposium attendees and then to us after his presentation several concepts they use to better position their protein they sell- concepts like Progressive Beef, Path Proven and the Braveheart Black Angus Beef brand. You can hear our visit with him about all of this and more by

Derrell S. Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist, writes in the latest Cow/Calf Corner newsletter.


"Oklahoma feeder cattle prices are currently at about the same level as this time last year. The difference is that cattle prices increased steadily last year and were on the way up. Hot dry weather in July and August this year has pulled feeder cattle prices seasonally lower from peaks in May and June. Prices for calves less than 500 pounds are roughly 6-7 percent lower than May peaks and prices for feeder cattle over 700 pound are down 4-5 percent from June peaks. In between, feeders between 500 and 600 pounds are experiencing a bit of a hole and are currently down 11-14 percent. Feeder markets, along with fed cattle and boxed beef, appear to have bottomed for the summer and increased slightly the past week.


"Despite the hot, dry weather currently in place in Oklahoma, soil moisture conditions are good and prospects for early planted wheat for grazing are favorable. Wheat stocker producers will begin planting wheat for fall and winter grazing in the next month and are no doubt already evaluating the budget prospects for winter stockers. For most of the summer, the value of added weight gain on feeder cattle has been very good. Prices for heavy feeders have remained relatively strong compared to lightweight cattle. For example, the price of medium/large, number 1 steers in Oklahoma last week was $262.57/cwt. for 500 pound steers and $220.27/cwt. for 750 pound steers. The resulting value of 250 pounds of gain is $1.36/lb. At current price levels, stocker production has attractive margin potential."

Dr. Peel goes on to discuss the possible cost of stocker calves this fall and what they may be worth next spring- you can read his full analysis by clicking here .

U.S. Agriculture Deputy Secretary Krysta Harden Monday announced that seven new school feeding projects could benefit more than 2.5 million children in Africa and Central America.


The projects were awarded as part of the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program. Through the program, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) works with private voluntary organizations and foreign governments in developing countries around the globe to reduce hunger and improve literacy and primary education.


"By providing school meals, teacher training and related support, McGovern-Dole projects help boost school enrollment and academic performance, with a special focus on girls," said Harden. "At the same time, the program focuses on improving children's health and learning capacity before they enter school by offering nutrition programs for pregnant and nursing women, infants and preschoolers."


USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) provides U.S. agricultural commodities, as well as financial and technical assistance, to support McGovern-Dole projects worldwide. In fiscal year 2015, FAS is donating U.S.-produced corn, corn-soy blend, lentils, green and yellow split peas, fortified rice, vegetable oil and pinto beans.  Click here to read more.

 

 

Folks in north central Oklahoma are invited to head to Enid this afternoon for the Garfield County Wheat Production meeting- it starts at 3 PM and will be featuring comments from Dr. Jeff Edwards on variety selection for the 2016 crop and comments from area economist Trent Milacek on the latest budget numbers to consider for grazing versus grain production as you look at the economics of planting the 2016 wheat crop- click here for details.

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The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry will host a public hearing this afternoon to gather comments on its proposed pollinator plan. 

The meeting will be in the same room used a few weeks ago by the Department for their public hearing on feral swine- the room is located at OKC-Langston on North Lincoln in Oklahoma City (north of the State Capitol).

Details are available here.

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USDA Market News reporter Ed Czerwein has the latest numbers on boxed beef sales- he tells us that daily spot Choice box beef cutout ended the week last Friday at $236.34, which was $3.09 higher compared to previous Friday.

Czerwein also reports that cow beef was very volatile this past week- way down at one point before recovering a lot of that loss by the end of the week.

You can read more and also listen to Ed's analysis of the wholesale market for this past week by clicking here.