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Fundamentals for cattle market support even higher prices

A livestock economist says the cattle market is positioned to move higher.  

Josh Maples with Mississippi State University Extension says, “Tight supplies is really what’s driving what we’re seeing right now.”

The average live steer price for the five-market area is already running $32 per hundredweight above last year’s levels. “Prices for feeder cattle are typically the strongest whenever you start holding back those heifers,” Maples says.  “You’re pulling those heifers out of that mix of feedlot cattle, and once that happens in full, then that’s when we see the tightest supplies.”

He tells Brownfield producers and feedlot operators in the south are facing serious shortages. “They’re hunting for cattle,” he says.  “This is happening at a really tough time for them because they’ve got tight supplies of domestic cattle, and then not having access to cattle coming in from Mexico is really, really shrinking their available supplies.”

Maples says producers will have a better insight into the cattle cycle when the USDA releases its next Cattle on Feed report and its semi-annual Cattle Inventory report.  “The heifer number is the first thing I’m going to scroll and look at,” he says. “I’m looking at the calf crop number in that July cattle report, and then I’m really interested in the heifers on feed as well.”

Those reports come out on Friday, July 25^th.