Cattle, hogs, and grains showed gains early Monday, April 27, as concerns over border issues and potential strikes eased while cash market conditions improved. Live and feeder cattle futures rose for the third consecutive day.
The movement in the cattle market comes after fears of a reopening of the border to Mexican feeder cattle imports subsided. The concern began when USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins attended a ground-breaking event for a sterile fly facility in Texas on April 17. However, Rollins canceled a scheduled trip to Arizona due to biosecurity reasons, which helped calm the market. Brad Kooima of Kooima Kooima Varilek said, “She canceled her trip due to biosecurity reasons as you’ve got a case that’s supposedly was within 60 miles of the Texas border even though this port that she was going to go to out there by Douglas is almost 800 miles away from there.”
Following gains in futures markets, feedlots started rejecting packer bids at $246 per head for fed cash cattle. Some trade occurred at $246 live and $386 dressed prices but later increased leverage led some feeders in northern regions to pass on offers at $248. Kooima said he is more optimistic about reaching higher cash prices this week: “I certainly have a little more optimism this week on a Monday than I did last week for cash. I think there’s a real shot we can get back to $250.” He also noted tight supplies may persist over the next month.
Concerns about workers potentially striking at Cargill’s beef plant in Fort Morgan also affected trading last Thursday; however, negotiations are ongoing with no union-backed strike confirmed yet. “Supposedly they were going to return to…start negotiations this week…it sounds like this is not a union backed strike,” Kooima said.
In addition to livestock news, grain markets rallied with old crop corn making fresh highs amid weather concerns following heavy rains across key Midwest production areas over the weekend. While bullish sentiment exists due to these factors, large carryout stocks and weak basis in parts of the Corn Belt limit optimism.
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