Farms.com Home   News

Rabobank's Don Close Says Herd Rebuilding Continues In 2016, But Anticipate Slower Progress

Cattle producers and traders will get a good indicator of herd expansion in the U.S. this week. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will release the U.S. cattle inventory report on Friday, January 29th. Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays sat down with Rabobank Protein Analyst Don Close at the 2016 Cattle Industry Convention in San Diego, California. 
 
Close said this report will show there are a lot more beef cows as of January first, compared to one year ago. In his office, he said in talking with producers there has been strong indications of continued herd expansion. He expects a year from now there will be a lot of first calf heifers and cows in the market place.
 
The cattle market has seen wild volatility, especially in the second half of 2015. This has led to red ink for feedlots and it hasn’t been a good year for margin operators and the stocker end of the business. While cow-calf operators haven’t been as profitable as last year, Close said they are still profitable. 
 
Based on last week’s USDA cattle on feed report, he said there are still a lot of intentions to hold back females. The report showed that heifers and heifer calves accounted for 3.41 million head, down seven percent from 2015. The January first heifers and heifer calves inventory was the lowest percent of total January inventory since the series began in 1996. 
 
“While we expect to see it slow down tremendously from the last two years, but the first level of data on heifers in the feed yard mix suggest that retention is still going on, at least through the first of the year,” Close said.
Click here to see more...

Trending Video

Cow-Calf Corner

Video: Cow-Calf Corner

Mark Johnson, OSU Extension beef cattle breeding specialist, explains when it’s time to assist during calving.