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Photo: Canada Beef
Markets, Prime cuts

Rough quarter ends 2023

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

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The U.S. beef industry will be hoping for a far better start to 2024 than what occurred in 2023’s fourth quarter. A month remained when I wrote this but the five weeks from the third week of October saw a $9.38 per cwt live decline in fed cattle prices and a $9.89 per cwt decline […] Read more
Canadians create over 50 million mt of food waste every year.
Markets, Prime cuts

Food waste a troubling statistic

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

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North America is the land of plenty for most of its residents. One does not hear of people starving to death, as occurs in some developing nations. In fact, America and Americans discard more food every year than any other country. That is a scandal in and of itself. But even worse is that nearly […] Read more
Grid sales now account for at least two-thirds of all sales reported to USDA by Kansas cattle feeders.
Markets, Prime cuts

Grid sales grow for beef cattle

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

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The U.S. beef industry for many years wrung its collective hands about the declining negotiated cash market for live cattle. Organizations such as the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and its predecessor spent countless hours in public and private meetings trying to find ways to improve sales without interfering with the market. That they largely failed […] Read more
Beef demand weakens
Markets, Prime cuts

Beef demand weakens

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

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I have followed the U.S. and global beef markets for the past 35 years. But all those years didn’t stop me from being blindsided by a sudden and pronounced weakness in beef demand in the U.S. during September. Only a few weeks earlier, I had opined in this column and in my own newsletter that […] Read more
Overcapacity crunch time for beef processing plants
Markets, Prime cuts

Overcapacity crunch time for beef processing plants

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

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No fewer than 10 entities or individuals have announced plans to build new beef processing plants in the U.S. I sure hope they are looking at the current and future size of the U.S. beef herd and how much processing capacity the industry currently has. Should they do so with an open mind, they might […] Read more
Beef demand remains resilient
Markets, Prime cuts

Beef demand remains resilient

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

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Beef demand remained remarkably resilient this summer in the U.S., despite record-high retail prices and much cheaper competing meats. The question that I posed in my June column of how demand would hold up has so far been answered with a “better than expected.” But demand continues to face challenges, not just for consumers but […] Read more
The annual grilling season began in early May, which is the best beef demand period of the year.
Markets, Prime cuts

How will beef demand hold up?

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

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The entire beef chain, from ranch to retail and restaurant, depends on consumers to keep paying up for beef. But seldom do all links in the chain make money at the same time. Right now in the U.S., cow-calf operators, cattle feeders and packers are all making decent profits. But retail margins on beef have […] Read more
FMD
Prime cuts

Foot-and-mouth disease is a huge threat

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Livestock producers across North America tremble when the name of a certain animal disease is mentioned. They know there has not been a case of the disease in the U.S. since 1929 and in Canada since 1952. But they know the disease is endemic in other countries and could enter the U.S. They also are […] Read more
Grafting an orphan calf onto another cow helps the calf on pasture.
Markets, Prime cuts

Moisture is key to success in the cattle business

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

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Cattle producers throughout North America know that sufficient moisture is critical for running their operations. Whether it be in the form of rain or snow, moisture allows grass to grow for grazing and for making hay. It allows crops to grow that feed cattle on the ranch or in the feedlot. It also allows ranchers […] Read more
A big question is where these new processing plants, if they open, will get their cattle from.
Markets, Prime cuts

New processing plant pipe dreams

Prime Cuts with Steve Kay

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Who doesn’t dream of building a new, state-of-the-art beef processing plant? As it happens, plenty of people in the U.S. do. Spurred by the perceived lack of slaughter capacity during the worst of the COVID pandemic, more than seven new groups over the past 18 months announced plans to build a plant. There’s one huge […] Read more

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