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Let consumers see your livestock operation

December 31, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Animal agriculture is under increasing attack around the country as generations are further removed from the farm do not understand why farmers do what they do. The most notable example is the on-going campaign by the Humane Society of the United States to outlaw the use of sow gestation stalls, calf crates and battery cages for chickens. Today’s consumer does not understand tools and practices that are designed for the safety and health of the animals. Jerry Meissner serves as president of an industry group called Dairy Business Association. They plan to conduct a major consumer education campaign in 2010

Meissner and his family run Norm-E-Lane Farm, a 1,500-cow state-of-the-art dairy farm; they host numerous tours of the operation which features a huge viewing window into the double-25 milking parlor and an anaerobic digester.

Jerry Meissner talks about consumer education:

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Filed Under: Feature Programs, Managing for Profit Tagged With: , , , , ,

Corn, soybeans mixed on last day of the year: December 31, 2009

December 31, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Soybeans were mixed in end of the year consolidation trade. Demand remains strong with weekly export sales and shipments more than what’s needed weekly to meet USDA projections. Pressure in the deferreds came from expectations for a record South American soybean crop. The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange reports that Argentina’s crop is developing as expected thanks to recent rainfall with 91.5% of the crop planted. Soybean meal was lower and bean oil was higher in product spread trade.

Corn was mixed on end of the year consolidation and the mixed beans. Weekly export sales were strong, but shipments remain slow. There was continued support from the slow harvest pace with the trade expecting a fairly significant amount of loss. Also, unlike a “normal year” we won’t get the final crop production number in January. The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange states that 88.6% of Argentina’s corn crop is planted, with total area seen up from initial projections thanks to improved precipitation.

The wheat complex was lower on profit taking and technical selling. Fundamentals remain very negative with poor demand for U.S. wheat and a large global supply. Egypt once again passed on U.S. wheat, buying 240,000 tons from Russia at mostly $191.47 to as high as $191.88 per ton. According to the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange, 65% of Argentina’s wheat crop is harvested with yields up on the year.

Filed Under: Closing Futures & Livestock Briefs, Markets Tagged With: , , ,

Closing Grain and Livestock Futures: December 31, 2009

December 31, 2009 By Leave a Comment

March corn closed at $4.14 and 1/2, up 3/4 cent
January soybeans closed at $10.39 and 3/4, up 3 and 1/2 cents
January soybean meal closed at $313.90, down $2.30
January soybean oil closed at 40.35, up 86 points
March wheat closed at $5.41 and 1/2, down 3 and 1/4 cents
December live cattle closed at $86.00, up $1.40
February lean hogs closed at $65.60, down 2 cents
February crude oil closed at $79.36, up 8 cents
March cotton closed at 75.60, up 17 points
January Class III milk closed at $14.22, down 3 cents
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 10,428.05, down 120.46 points

Filed Under: Closing Futures & Livestock Briefs, Markets Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Governor’s Ag Conference to include jobs roundtable

December 31, 2009 By Leave a Comment

USDA Rural Development and the Farm Service Agency are holding a Tri-state Roundtable Forum on Job Creation and Economic Growth. Missouri Rural Development Director Janie Dunning says the event is a follow-up to a similar forum hosted by President Obama early in December.

“USDA Rural Development and the Farm Service Agency has been asked to get more of a local input into what opportunities, what obstacles are there and to try to get information to present back to the White House and the Secretary of Agriculture,” Dunning told Brownfield Tuesday.

Missouri USDA Rural Development Director Janie Dunning

091230_JanieDunning

The event is in conjunction with the Missouri Governor’s Conference on Agriculture, Saturday, January 9, in St. Louis.

Dunning says the roundtable will give people from Missouri, Iowa and Illinois an opportunity to discuss ways to accelerate job growth in rural America.

“Quite honestly, we’re looking at attendance at this conference to be anybody that can have some input into the creation of jobs or putting people back to work,” she said.

The ideas collected at these roundtables will be presented to President Obama beginning in January.

Filed Under: News, USDA/Government Tagged With: , , , , ,

Cattle contracts close higher on improved cash business

December 31, 2009 By 1 Comment

Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle contracts settled 55 to 140 points higher. Sharply higher cash prices pushed the spot December contract up 140 points to 86.00, it expired at noon. The new spot February settled 112 points higher at 86.17, and April live cattle settled 85 higher at 89.80.

Feeder cattle ended the session 45 to 150 points higher in a choppy trade, related to light holiday volume. Feeders rode the coat tails of the live contracts higher. January finished 72 points higher at 95.85 and March was up 137 at 96.25.

Cattle country is quiet Thursday, following Wednesday’s active business. Live business in the South ranged from 84.00 to 85.00, generally 2.00 higher than last week. Dressed deals in Nebraska were marked at mostly 135.00, with a few as high as 136.00, 3.00 to 4.00 higher. Live sales in the North were 2.00 to 2.50 higher 83.00 to 84.00. Negotiated sales for the week according to USDA Mandatory totaled 159,323 head, Last week sales totaled 134,184. Cattle slaughter was estimated at 98,000 head, 42,000 more than Christmas Eve. Choice boxed beef in the morning report was .27 lower at 138.77, and select was down .24 at 133.08.

Receipts of cattle at the Huss Platte Valley Auction in Nebraska totaled 4100 head on Wednesday. Compared with two weeks ago, steers and heifers traded steady. Demand was very good and trade activity was moderate to good. Feeder steers medium and large 1 averaging 582 pounds brought 105.21 per hundredweight. 622 pound heifers traded at an average price of 93.54.

Barrows and gilts in the Iowa/Minnesota direct trade closed .17 higher at 63.73 on a carcass basis, the West was up .20 at 63.89, but the East was down 1.76 to close at 59.82. Missouri direct base carcass meat price closed a 1.00 higher at 53.00 to 57.00. Hog slaughter was estimated at 374,000 head, 179,000 more than last week. If hog buyers had hard time lining up sufficient numbers during a short week, implied by sharply higher cash prices earlier in the week, how tough will it be when regular schedules are resumed in January?

Lean hogs settled 2 to 90 points lower with February outperforming the rest of the pit due to the recent performance of the cash market. The balance of the pit was moderately lower with speculators sobered by the lackluster totals in the December 1 hogs and pigs inventory. The report was viewed by some as more negative than positive. February was 2 points lower at 65.60, and April was down 62 at 69.87. Pork trading was slow with light to moderate demand and offerings. Pork carcass cutout value closed .07 higher at 67.39.

Pork bellies were higher, boosted by profit taking and buy spots in light volume. February ended 170 points higher at 88.00.

Filed Under: Closing Futures & Livestock Briefs, Markets Tagged With: ,

Indiana hog inventory = 3.65 million

December 31, 2009 By Leave a Comment

As of December 1, Indiana had a total inventory of 3.65 million hogs and pigs, a 3 percent increase from a year earlier. According to the Indiana field office of the National Ag Statistics Service (NASS) market hogs were up 3 percent at 3.37 million head, breeding inventory was unchanged at 280,000 and sows farrowed during the September through November quarter totaled 135,000, a 4 percent decline from the same period a year earlier.

All hogs and pigs in the U.S. on December 1 totaled 65.8 million, a decline of 2 percent from a year ago.

Filed Under: Livestock, News, USDA/Government Tagged With: , ,

Nebraska ethanol plant sells for $30 million

December 31, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The idled ethanol plant at Cambridge, Nebraska has been sold in a bankruptcy auction for more than 30 million dollars.

According to court records, a group called Nebraska Corn Processing LLC bought the former Mid-America Agri Products plant, a 44-million gallon plant located in south-central Nebraska.  The sale needs a bankruptcy judge’s approval.

Filed Under: Events/Organizations, News Tagged With: ,

Midday cash livestock markets

December 31, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Barrows and gilts in the Iowa/Minnesota direct trade are .14 higher at 63.70, the West is down .46 at 63.23, and the East is 2.77 lower at 58.81. Missouri direct base carcass meat price is a 1.00 higher at 53.00 to 57.00. It looks like several packers started the day needing to put hogs into Saturday as well as early next week. While the hogs and pigs report proved to be quite a yawner, it was probably more negative than positive, especially given the substantial bullishness already dialed into deferred long hog premiums.

Cattle country is quiet today, following yesterday’s active business. Live business in the South ranged from 84.00 to 85.00, generally 2.00 higher than last week. Dressed deals in Nebraska were marked at mostly 135.00, with a few as high as 136.00, 3.00 to 4.00 higher. Although we could see some cleanup trade , the majority of the business is done for the week. Asking prices of cattle left on the show lists are around 86.00 to 87.00 in the South and 136.00 plus in the North.

Choice boxed beef is down .27 at 138.77, and select is .24 lower at 133.08.

Receipts of cattle at the Huss Platte Valley Auction in Nebraska totaled 4100 head on Wednesday. Compared with two weeks ago, steers and heifers traded steady. Demand was very good and trade activity was moderate to good. Feeder steers medium and large 1 averaging 582 pounds brought 105.21 per hundredweight. 622 pound heifers traded at an average price of 93.54.

Filed Under: Livestock, Markets Tagged With: ,

Grains and oilseed exports mostly within estimates

December 31, 2009 By Leave a Comment

It was a fairly quiet holiday week for grain and oilseed export sales. Corn, soybeans, soybean meal and wheat were within pre-report estimates while soybean oil sales hit a new marketing year low. Physical shipments of soybeans were larger than what’s needed weekly to meet USDA projections for the marketing year but corn and wheat fell short of their respective marks.

Wheat came out at 370,300 tons (13.6 million bushels), up 67% from the week ending December 17 and 23% higher than the four week average. Unknown destinations were the leading buyer at 78,500 tons. For the 2009/10 marketing year to date, wheat sales are 586.4 million bushels, compared to 800.7 million in 2008/09.

Corn was reported at 772,500 tons (30.4 million bushels), down 52% from the previous week and 29% lower than the four week average. Mexico picked up 262,800 tons while Japan bought 95,000 tons. At this point in the marketing year, corn sales are 984.7 million bushels, compared to 828.3 million a year ago.

Soybeans were pegged at 799,000 tons (29.4 million bushels), 33% less than the week before and 14% below the four week average. China was once again far and away the top purchaser at 430,500 tons. So far this marketing year, soybean sales are 1.159 billion bushels, compared to 747.8 million this time last year. Sales of 276,000 tons (10.1 million bushels) for 2010/11 delivery were to unknown destinations (175,000 tons) and China (101,000 tons).

Soybean meal came out at 286,900 tons, 13% more than the prior week and 46% above the four week average. South Korea was the leading buyer at 112,600 tons while unknown destinations canceled on 103,500 tons. Cumulative 2009/10 soybean meal exports are 5,768,600 tons, compared to 3,102,100 at this stage of 2008/09.

Soybean oil sales were a marketing year low at 1,500 tons. That’s a decrease of 97% from the previous week and a drop of 94% from the four week average as a handful of sales between 1,300 and 9,000 tons were almost completely offset by a pair of cancellations from unknown destinations (12,000 tons) and Venezuela (6,000 tons). 2009/10 soybean oil sales are 785,400 tons, compared to 207,300 in 2008/09.

Net beef sales totaled 5,800 tons. The listed buyers were Mexico (2,500 tons), Japan (1,100 tons), South Korea (500 tons) and Taiwan (500 tons). Sales of 6,300 tons for 2010 delivery were mostly to Mexico (3,600 tons), Japan (900 tons), Taiwan (600 tons) and Vietnam (500 tons).

Filed Under: Markets, News Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

FFA float in Rose Parade, January 1

December 31, 2009 By Leave a Comment

With thousands in attendance and a worldwide television audience it’s no wonder the National FFA is excited to have a float in the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day.

“The opportunity to get our members, our jacket, our logo, our message and our mission in front of millions of Americans and millions of an international audience is unparalleled, we’ve never had the opportunity to shine in the sun before,” said That’s Bill Stagg, director of strategic communications for the National FFA.

AUDIO: Bill Stagg, National FFA (1:20 MP3)

AUDIO: Bill Stagg, National FFA (1:20 MP3)

In addition to the parade, Raquel Gottsch, Executive V.P. of RFD-TV tells Brownfield you can see the FFA float being constructed during a special broadcast on RFD-TV.

“An hour before the broadcast, 8 a.m. Pacific, 11 a.m. Eastern we are going to be having the making of the FFA float,” Gottsch said. “Which is a pre-broadcast leading up to the event, we’ve been taping this entire time doing time lapse cameras, everyone decorating, it will be a great production.”

AUDIO: Raquel Gottsch, RFD-TV (1:40 MP3)

AUDIO: Raquel Gottsch, RFD-TV (1:40 MP3)

FFA Representatives from all 50 state states, plus the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, Dr. Larry Case and the National FFA Officers will be on the float.

Filed Under: Ag Youth, Events/Organizations, News, Top Stories Tagged With:
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