Stirring Through the Ashes after the Tyson Fire Tomorrow will mark three weeks since the major fire that shutdown the Tyson beef packing plant in Garden City, Kansas, but cattle slaughter volumes have been holding up, actually increasing for the two weeks after the fire compared to the two weeks before the plant closure. The gain has come mostly through Saturday slaughter and some plants shifting cow slaughter to fed steers and heifer.
With the timing of the fire coming before the Labor Day holiday, retailers reacted by buying up supplies and boxed beef prices charted out like a hockey stick, while negotiated dressed cattle prices looked like an upside down hockey stick. As an aside, even the drop-value of off al...
What You Need to Know Today: Crude oil prices extended their rally today, supported by several developments, including escalating Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabian oil infrastructure and growing concerns about supply disruptions. The Trump administration is reportedly preparing to remove 50 perc...
Key Takeaways: The agricultural trade surplus has become a sizable deficit: the balance swung from a $40.1 billion surplus in 2011 to a $40.7 billion deficit in 2025. Imports kept growing while exports lost momentum: between 2020 and 2025, agricultural imports increased 45 percent, compa...
USDA released its October Cattle on Feed report Friday, showing 11.4 million cattle in feedlots with capacity for 1,000 head or more, slightly below last year. September placements were the lowest for the month since records began in 1996, marking the third consecutive month of placements sett...
Total Red Meat & Poultry September 2026 total red meat and poultry stocks totaled 1.97 billion pounds, down 1.4 percent from August despite typically increasing 0.8 percent during the month, and were 1.5 percent below September 2025 levels. The decline pushed total inventories to a new five...
