Cattle Feeders and Packers Find Margin Relief

An article on Drovers

Feedlot and beef packer margins both saw marginal improvement last week over the previous week. Feedlots benefited from a $3/cwt. gain in the 5 Area Direct Steer price ($233.17/cwt).

Packers posted margin improvement slaughtering lower cost cattle purchased the week prior ($230.47/cwt.) though the Comprehensive Beef Cutout was off $4/cwt. to average $365.81/cwt. for the week. Fed plant utilization averaged 78.5% for the week while utilization in cow plants averaged 59.9%.

Range fires in Oregon and Washington are having a severe negative impact on rangeland — both Federal and private — grazing and this will likely impact many ranches for the next two to three years.For the full article click here