Steep price fall avoided
Fed cattle prices fell $1-$1.50 per hundredweight last week with most trade in the low $90s. Only one pen of fancy, long-fed steers fetched $94.25.
Buyers from Ontario and the United States helped keep prices from falling further, said Canfax.
Alberta prices June 22 were steers $91.50-$94.25 per cwt., flat rail $151.10-$152.30 with no heifer sales reported.
Beef sales and movement have slowed considerably, and with ample inventory in the system, packers will likely be more cautious, said Canfax.
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Beef wholesale prices in Montreal fell $2 to $155 per cwt. and the Calgary market also fell $2 on handyweight steers, to a range of $141-$160. Hide prices rose a little.
Canfax said that with large fed cattle supplies and lower trending wholesale beef prices throughout North America, western Canadian fed cattle prices will likely come under pressure in coming weeks. Fed cattle prices are expected to drop about $1 lower this week.
Slaughter cows traded $2-$3 per cwt. higher on average.
Buyers became more aggressive as supplies tightened and prices climbed to $70 for quality types.
Producers looking for breeding cows also competed for supplies.
Most D1, 2 cows traded between $60-$70 by week’s end and should be steady this week.
Feeder cattle prices rose $1-$3 per cwt. on tight supplies. Green cattle brought premiums over average quality animals.
Dry pastures in some locations continued to force some yearlings to market.
Canfax said feeder quality and price will be variable until numbers pick up in August.
In stock cow trade, bred cattle saw only a light test. Bred cows ranged from $700-$1,400, with bred heifers from $700-$1,125. Cow-calf pairs sales ranged from $1,000-$1,700.
Hog prices higher
Retail demand for pork in the U.S. improved, resulting in higher wholesale pork prices and improved packer margins. The stronger product market and limited hog supplies encouraged packers to pay higher prices for hogs.
Iowa-southern Minnesota hog prices (at plant average, 51-52 percent lean, live equivalent) ranged from $42.50-$60.25 (U.S.) per cwt. on June 23 with a mean of $53.97, up $3.09 from the week before.
Manitoba Agriculture said hog feeders appear current with marketings, so supplies are expected to remain tight this week.
Hog and pigs report
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s June 1 hog inventory report released June 23 showed the U.S. hog herd has declined by two percent from a year ago.
The breeding herd declined by four percent and the number of market hogs on farms was down two percent.
The lower-than-expected number of hogs kept for breeding means there is no real indication of herd expansion.
However, University of Missouri agricultural economist Ron Plain warned of increased productivity.
“The message coming to us in capital letters is that we do not need to grow the breeding herd at all to be having problems with too many hogs again, possibly by the fourth quarter of 2001 and almost certainly by the fourth quarter of 2002 with productivity growth of only two percent a year. The current data supports a productivity growth between three and four percent this year,” he said in his review of the USDA numbers.
“A normal feed grain crop this year and loss of any more slaughter capacity (current margins in the packing industry support more plant closings) sharply increase the odds for slaughter capacity problems by late 2001.”
