Hot Summer Market
contributed article by Kirk Lynch
Lynch Livestock Inc. and Humeston Livestock Exchange, Humeston, Iowa
It has been a few months since I had to sit down and collect my thoughts and write one of these, but here we go. I hope that everyone is having a splendid and wonderful summer. I know it is cliché to say that I cannot believe how fast it has gone, but as I am writing this article the summer is more than half gone and we have not done nearly half the stuff we were planning this summer. Well, we better get after it, and let us get after talking about the markets which are as hot as the summer heat has been!
Feeder cattle just seem to get stronger just about every week. A couple factors that are driving this mainly are numbers of feeder cattle are going to be tight throughout the summer, fall, and into winter and the cost of corn and other feedstuffs continue to come down. Seeing some 400-pound calves bringing up to $4/pound and most 600-pound cattle bringing in that $3/pound range. Bigger yearling type cattle bringing in the mid to high $2’s. As long as feedstuffs stay cheap, I would look for these prices to continue throughout the fall.
Fat cattle have been in short supply as well. For the past several weeks, we have been seeing tops in barns well over the $2 mark and with a bulk of them in $1.90’s. Cash market in the country has reached the high 90’s as well. We are seeing cattle getting a little on the bigger side so that is one way the packers and the industry are making up for the limited amount of cattle on the market. If we keep marketing weights in check these prices kind of seem like the top end of where we will be for a while.
The fed cow and bull market has been the talk of the summer. Good high yielding bulls are bringing as much as fat cattle on the right day. There have been several bulls that are bringing over $4,000/head. If this continues, I imagine there will be several older bulls going to town this fall rather than winter them. Good, high yielding fed cows bringing in the $1.40 - $1.50 range and I would imagine we continue to see any cow that gives its owner a reason to go to town this fall will go to town this fall.
With the above markets the way they have been you can imagine that bred stock has been high as well. It is that time of year when pairs are nearly impossible to find but even the singles and small groups that come through the barn bring $3,000 or more. Bred fall cows start in the mid $2,000 and go up and bred heifers generally $3,000 and up.
Well, I hope everyone enjoys what is left of the summer and hope that we continue to see moisture throughout the country and can get a good harvest put in the bins. Until next month!
Kirk Lynch, Lynch Livestock Inc., Lineville, Iowa
Kirk is the beef division manager for Lynch Livestock Inc. and oversees all aspects of their backgrounding and cattle feeding operations throughout Iowa and Kansas. He is also deeply involved in the Humeston Livestock Exchange in Humeston, Iowa. In addition, Kirk and his wife Mary own and operate Heartland Simmentals in northeast Iowa, which is a seedstock operation that consists of 500 registered Simmental and Angus cows. They have four children: Gabrielle (11), Brayden (9), Vivian (7), and Bianca (4).
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