Market Report - Week of September 22, 2023

Cattle Market Report:‍

Live cattle are up over the last two weeks with ups and downs along the way. Feeder cattle, on the other hand, are down. I imagine at this point the feeders are more interested in heavier calves that they can use to fill orders with less input. I am a little surprised that the packers haven’t made more efforts to adjust to the current prices. They have lessened production some, but at this point I would have anticipated greater long term moves from them. I don’t anticipate significantly lower prices in the next few years without external influences. I can’t imagine they think there is a turn around on the horizon either. To be fair, consumer spending has kept pace which may be keeping their losses at a minimum. 

Grain Market Report:‍

Soybeans have taken a significant downturn over the last two weeks. Corn is also down though not as aggressively. The corn outlook is lower as there are anticipated to be significant increase in planted acres as well as a decent harvest this year. This is good news for feeders. With soybeans lower and corn projected to be lower moving forward they may be able to hold on a little longer without loosing too much.

Cattle and Grain Markets for September 22, 2023

Sheep Market Report:

San Angelo was up $10-15 higher this week. Hamilton was $10 higher, and Goldthwaite was $10-20 lower. Fredericksburg was steady as was New Holland. In general, a strong trend was hard to identify. The USDA estimated domestic lamb and mutton meat production for the week ending September 16th totaled 2.07 million pounds on a 35,000 head slaughter this week compared to 1.65 million and 28,000 head previously. Imported lamb and mutton meat for the week ending August 9th totaled 4.09 million pounds, or 248 percent of domestic production.

Sheep markets for week ending September 22, 2023

*No Quote ** Not Applicable

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Hay Market Report:

Not a lot has changed in the hay markets. Higher quality hay is still hard to find and there is plenty of hay that has seen some rain. Dairies do seem to have increased their buying. Some producers were looking to have a higher quality third cutting, but the rains across the west have made that difficult. Frost is on it’s way soon with some areas already seeing their first of the year.  

*Ross Bronson and Redd Summit Advisors are not financial advisors, and this market report is in no way intended to provide financial advice. This commentary is merely meant to be insight and input about current market conditions. It is recommended that any market commentary be compared to your own trusted sources, experience, and market evaluation. Especially those that are more specific to your regional market dynamics.

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