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Cattle markets remain unpredictable

More volatility in the cattle markets is expected. Jackie Moore, the owner of Joplin Regional Stockyards in Missouri, one of the largest sale barns in the country says the wild ride in the cattle markets is far from over. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, I just want to live long enough to find out,” he says. “I’ve seen a lot of wrecks in my life. I don’t want to miss this one.”

He tells Brownfield cattle continue to bring record and near-record prices. “We’re buying a lot of cattle that look like won’t make any money,” he says.  “But we’ve been doing that for two or three years.”  Moore says with tight supplies that may not change anytime soon. “You know, we’re short on the calf crop,” he says.  “They’re going to buy these calves, and they’re going to buy these lighter cattle that graze, they’re going to buy cattle to feed because everybody’s made money.”

However, he says there are some other outside market influences impacting prices.  “They’ve been talking about closing that JBS plant out there in Colorado, which I guess they say they’re going to for the week’s over,” he says.  “But that remains to be seen, whether it happens or not, and that’s kind of the game we’ve been playing.” 

Moore says cattle sold lower to start the day on Monday, but prices were closer to steady on the week.