News Update
February 15, 2018
Cattle Analysts Positive for 2018
“We’ve got a situation where you’ve got a stock market that’s on fire. That’s very supportive to high-end steak houses in particular,” said Kevin Good, senior analyst during the CattleFax 2018 U.S. & Global Protein & Grain Outlook seminar Feb. 1 at the Cattle Industry Convention and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Trade Show, hosted in Phoenix, Ariz. (Notably, the outlook was presented prior to the stock market’s dip a few days later.)
“You’ve also got a consumer-comfort index that’s as high as it’s been since the start of the century,” he continued.
A good stock market and high consumer-comfort index are good news for cattle producers, he said, as consumers have more dollars to spend.
For his portion of the seminar, Good presented domestic and global cattle market forecasts for 2018. To begin, Good commented on the success the cattle industry experienced in 2017. It was a rare time in our history, he said, when all segments of the beef industry were profitable.
This year will continue to see an increase in beef supplies, he noted, but he also expects beef cow herd expansion to come to a close, citing dry conditions and more heifers on feed as clues.
Read the full summary online.
MU Entomologist Tells Farmers to Watch for Certain Pests
“The genie’s out of the bottle” on the spotted lanternfly, University of Missouri (MU) Extension entomologist Kevin Rice told farmers Feb. 8 at the second annual NEMO Soils and Crop Conference in Palmyra.
Rice gave farmers an update on insects to watch in the upcoming growing season. He urged them to contact him when they find these invasive pests so he can track their presence in the state.
Entomologists saw the spotted lanternfly in Pennsylvania in 2014 and Virginia, Delaware and New York in January 2018. It likely is making its way to Missouri, Rice said. The plant hopper’s eggs travel on metal objects such as railroad cars, boats and tractor-trailers. Its primary host plant is grapes, but it also affects other fruit and ornamental trees, and hops. It was observed feeding on soybean and corn in Pennsylvania in 2017. Its honeydew secretions attract other pests to feed.
The adult spotted lanternfly’s forewing is gray with black spots, and the wingtips are black blocks outlined in gray. It has distinguishing bright orange-red and white underwings.
For more information, view the MU news release online.
January Feeder Cattle Receipts
A first glance at feedlot placement totals for the prior month usually starts with an analysis of weekly feeder cattle receipts collected by USDA Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS). Based on the weekly receipt data, January placements seemed to be extending the trend from December, when placements posted the smallest year-over-year increase since February (ten months earlier). A 1% increase in placements in December followed 10% and 14% increases in October and November, respectively. The sum of weekly feeder cattle market receipts in January came up short of the January 2017 total by 11%. Limiting the analysis to feeder cattle marketed through auctions shows an 8% decline.
In December, the weekly receipts data told a story similar to January, with total receipts down 12% from December 2016. On the basis of just auction receipts in December, the feeder-cattle count was only down half a percent from a year earlier, which was a better reading for the December feedlot placement estimate. Placements in December were slightly higher than expected, given weekly market receipt data, which was also the case in October and November when increases in placements were more substantial.
Read the full report online at www.dailylivestockreport.com.
Missouri Fescue School, March 6, Helps Farmers
Replace Toxic K-31
Beef herd owners serious about improving fescue pastures — and their beef herds — can learn how in a March 6 meeting at the MU Southwest Research Center, Mount Vernon.
Kentucky 31 toxic tall fescue causes endless losses in cows and calves, says Craig Roberts, MU forage specialist.
“The answer is easy: Kill the old stand of fescue and replace it with a novel-endophyte fescue variety,” he says.
“Doing that isn’t easy or quick, however,” he adds. Renovation requires producers who are serious about improving their farms and cattle.
“The payoff comes for decades,” Roberts says. “Replacement pays.”
Roberts has worked with the Alliance for Grassland Renewal for the last six years.
New methods started in Missouri now spread across the Fescue Belt from Missouri to the Atlantic coast.
The Alliance school at Mount Vernon is the first of five meetings in five states this season.
The school starts at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m. “We condensed what was two days into one day,” Roberts says. “The meetings still tell all.”
The story starts with causes of fescue toxicosis and goes on to the economics.
For more information please view the Angus Journal Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events.
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