Month: January 2021

Retail Beef Prices Continue Higher Than Last Year

– David P. Anderson, Professor and Extension Economist, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service

One common question from back in 2020 was how quickly retail beef prices would return to pre-pandemic levels. Retail beef prices have declined, but remain above year ago levels.

USDA’s All Fresh beef price series peaked at $7.38 per pound in June, 2020. The December monthly average price (released on January 14th) was $6.23 per pound. Retail beef prices declined fairly quickly after the June peak and were averaged $6.38 in August. This data, reported by USDA, is gathered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and reflects a monthly price from grocery stores across all beef quality grades and a range of beef cuts.

All fresh retail beef prices in 2020 were above those of 2019 the entire year. The price in March, pre-pandemic, averaged $5.96 per pound and finished the year at $6.23. Compared to December 2019, December 2020’s all fresh beef price was $0.264 per pound, or 4.4 percent higher.

For the year, beef prices increased 9.7 percent over Continue reading →

Weekly Livestock Comments for January 15, 2021

– Dr. Andrew Griffith, Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Tennessee

FED CATTLE: Fed cattle traded $3 lower compared to last week on a live basis. Prices on a live basis were primarily $108 to $110 while dressed prices were mainly $172 to $174.

The 5-area weighted average prices thru Thursday were $109.52 live, down $1.96 compared to last week and $173.06 dressed, down $2.96 from a week ago. A year ago, prices were $124.00 live and $199.07 dressed.

Fed cattle prices took a step back this week while boxed beef prices were finding some footing. It has been clear for nearly ten months that cattle feeders have little to no leverage as packers have willed the market in the direction they desire. The question on many market participants’ minds is if the tide will ever shift such that cattle feeders can will their way to higher fed cattle prices. There may be many ways for this to happen, but the most direct would be for fewer cattle in the pipeline. This may be the reality in a few months if the beef cow herd shrank and fewer heifers were retained in 2020. This is not something that will fix itself overnight, but some Continue reading →

2020, Has it Changed How Consumers Shop for and Consume Beef?

– Mike Estadt, OSU Extension Educator, Pickaway County (originally published in Ohio Farmer on-line)

Is this our future? Place an order on MunseeMeats.com that will be filled and stocked in this Automated Farmers Market. You then receive a confirmation QR code that your order is ready. When you arrive at the locker you simply scan the QR code and retrieve your order from the self-serve lockers. Photo: Jason Mauck

If we answer this question with the knowledge at hand this is going to be a very short article.  We really do not know yet. But what we do know is there have been some fundamental shifts in how the consumer shops and how they consume not only beef but food in general. Will these shifts remain and what might we expect in the years to come?

Let us look at the year in review and try to understand the effects on the larger food industry as well as local livestock growers.  The New Year came in with some optimism for agriculture as the effects of the trade war was dissipating, cushioned by USDA financial assistance via the Market Facilitation Program.  For livestock producers, specifically pork, the effects of the Asian Swine Fever which decimated the Chinese breeding herd by 40%, gave rise to optimism for increased exports to China.

In late December and early January, reports of a flu-like disease began to be reported out of the Hubei province, in the city of Wuhan, China. The disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, would soon become a worldwide pandemic known as COVID-19.

By March in response to the increasing Continue reading →

Pasture Management; It’s All About Maximizing the Grazing Season!

– Victor Shelton, NRCS State Agronomist/Grazing Specialist

They might make good pies, but blackberries in a pasture can reduce grazeable acres.

Winter is setting in. The impact of the dry spell in late summer and early fall is now more evident as stockpiled forages that normally would have lasted a bit longer start running short. I’ve walked most of my pastures to do a quick assessment. Hay will come early this year.

That “walkabout” helped me assess a few areas that could use a little attention besides estimating any remaining forage. A couple blackberry patches in one field certainly got my attention. Long, wet springs seem to be to their liking. I will certainly have to put a bit more pressure on them this coming year and probably clip or spray early to get them under control. Small patches where they were denser created too much competition for sunlight and water for the underlying forages and they were set back. When the canopy of perennial or annual weeds start exceeding more than thirty percent, you will have reduced forage growth and I also believe reduced nutritional value to some degree.

When it comes to briars, grazing intake is also going to be Continue reading →

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Preparing Your Cows for A Successful Breeding Season

– Dr. Les Anderson, Beef Extension Specialist, University of Kentucky

A successful breeding season begins with management decisions made prior to calving. As we move into the winter-feeding period for spring-calving cows, cattlemen need to review their management plan to ensure optimal rebreeding and success. Rebreeding efficiency can be optimized by focusing on body condition score (BCS), early assistance during calving difficulty, scheduling a breeding soundness exam for the herd sires, planning their herd reproductive health program, and developing a plan to regulate estrus in their first-calf heifers and late-calving cows.

Reproductive management begins with evaluation and management of BCS. Body condition score is a numerical estimation of the amount of fat on the cow’s body. Body condition score ranges from 1-9; 1 is emaciated while 9 is extremely obese. A change in a single BCS (i.e. 4-5) is usually associated with about a 75- pound change in body weight. Evaluation of BCS prior to calving and from calving to breeding is important to ensure reproductive success.

Rebreeding performance of cows is greatly influenced by BCS at calving. Cows that are thin (BCS < 5) at calving take longer to resume estrous cycles and therefore are delayed in their ability to rebreed. Research has clearly demonstrated that as precalving BCS decreases, the number of days from one calving to the next (calving interval) increases in beef cows. Females with a precalving BCS of less than 5 tend to have production cycles greater than 1 year. For example, cows with a Continue reading →

Will Seasonality Patterns for Beef Export Sales and Commitments Hold in 2021?

– Elliott Dennis, Assistant Professor & Livestock Extension Economist, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Nebraska – Lincoln

Trade occurs when price differences between the two locations are large enough after accounting for transportation cost, exchange rates, tariffs, etc. Exports vary throughout the year since prices reflect current and future supply and demand situations. Seasonality in cattle production, meat demand, and market disruptions are some examples of why wholesale beef prices increase and decrease within a year.

The inability to market cattle in the second quarter of 2020 and increased demand for retail beef products due to government gathering restrictions in restaurants caused wholesale beef prices to rise to historical levels. Beef wholesalers can choose to market beef to the domestic market (retail or food service) or the export market. So how did higher domestic wholesale beef prices impact beef export sales and commitments in 2020? Likewise, knowing how the market worked through supply and demand disruptions in 2020, what can we reasonably expect from export sales and commitments in 2021? These questions can be partially answered by looking at historical seasonal export sales and commitment patterns and comparing 2020 to years with large trade disruptions.

Year-ending Beef Export Sales

One way to monitor beef exports is through Continue reading →

Boxed Beef

– Brenda Boetel, Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Wisconsin-River Falls

Last week, effective January 4, 2021, the RMA began using new updated yields for the calculation of the beef cutout. The boxed beef cutout values for a carcass basis are calculated from the seven primal cut values, specifically the rib, loin, brisket, chuck, flank, round and short plate. The USDA determines an average percentage that each primal cut contributes toward the total retail beef from the carcass. The contribution percentage from primal to carcass yields is shown in the table below. These primal yields did not change in January.

When a sub-primal cut is produced from the primal cut, you also get other components. What changed in the boxed beef calculation is the percentage of different sub-primal components. The value of each primal cut is determined by a weighted average of the wholesale prices of the sub-primal cuts obtained in each primal cut. These changes in the sub-primal percentages affect the value for that specific primal. The changes to the sub-primal percentage weighting factors were minimal. For example, some middle meat cuts have a smaller impact now on the primal value, while top sirloin and tenderloin received slightly larger weighting factors.

Once the primal value is calculated from the sub-primal values; the seven primal values are then factored against their yield from the carcass to see the contribution toward the carcass cutout value. For example, the primal rib contributes Continue reading →

Upcoming Beef and Forage Programming Moves On-line This Winter

Cow/Calf School launches on January 18th

This winter the OSU Beef Team is offering a variety of educational programs online, beginning with Making Hay for Beef Cattle on January 18. In total, nine programs are presently scheduled focusing on everything from feed and forage management to managing the breeding season. These sessions are each being offered free of charge, but pre-registration is required. Find all the details linked here: https://u.osu.edu/beefteam/2021-beef-school/

Also, the OSU Extension Forage Team is offering a ‘virtual’ edition of Pastures for Profit. This program launches next week on the 13th and will feature one live webinar offered monthly in January, February and March along with “work at your own pace” videos and exercises that accompany each webinar. Find details including registration information here: https://u.osu.edu/beef/2020/12/23/pasture-for-profit-school-goes-virtual-this-winter/

Find a comprehensive listing of currently planned beef and forage related meetings and programs posted on the OSU Extension Beef Team Events/Programs page.

Preventing Calf Disease Starts with the Pregnant Cow

– Dr. Michelle Arnold, UK Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory

Every year, the UKVDL receives calves that died suddenly in the first week of life, usually with few or no symptoms. Often the owner will describe the situation this way: “calves will nurse, be 2-3 days old and found dead” or “calf was 3-5 days old, lying around more than normal and nursing very little, found dead the next day”. At necropsy (an animal “autopsy”), the pathologist will find no milk within the calf’s digestive tract. Further laboratory testing will find bacteria can be grown (cultured) from several organs such as liver, kidney and lung. These deaths are diagnosed as “septicemia” which means the calf died from an infection in the blood (usually a Gram negative bacteria such as E. coli along with the “toxins” or poisons the bacteria produce) that damages all the major organs of a calf, resulting in death. Affected calves respond poorly to antibiotic treatment and those that survive often develop one or more swollen joints. These calves are also at greater risk for diseases such as diarrhea, pneumonia, and meningitis in the coming months. Most grow poorly and die prior to or at weaning. The question is often asked “what should I have treated this calf with to save it” but the real question that needs to be addressed is “why did this happen in the first place and how can I prevent it?”.

Preventing septicemia and other neonatal calf diseases like scours begins long before birth of the calf. Excellent cow nutrition during and after gestation, a quick calving process, and biosecurity management factors to decrease environmental contamination all contribute to a successful start. The following list of management practices are crucial to calf health Continue reading →

Colostrum and Passive Immunity are Critical to the Health of a New Born Calf

We know that calves aren’t born with immunoglobulins, which are critical for their health. Immunoglobulins are supplied by the cow via colostrum, or first milk, and timing is critical as the new born calf has less than a 24 hour window to ingest these molecules through the lining of their gut before that window closes. The amount of colostrum intake is also critical for the passive immunity and long term health and productivity of a new born calf.

During his presentation at the 2020 Ohio Beef Cow/Calf Workshop and excerpted in the 2 minute video below, Dr. Francis Fluharty further explains why a calf must receive adequate colostrum within the first 24 hours of life.