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U.S. Drought Crisis Leaving Beef Cattle Pastures High and Dry

Pasture Stress Impacting 71% of Nations Beef Cows

By , Farms.com

The U.S. drought crisis is hitting beef cattle ranchers hard, in fact 71 per cent of the country’s beef cows are located in states that are rated under poor or very poor pasture conditions. Pasture fields are just not holding up due to the lack of rain for weeks and in some cases months on end. The loss of forage and hay is making it a tough go for beef farmers.  The less than desirable conditions are forcing producers to sell off early feeder cattle and major cow culling. With little to no feed available, some beef farmers just can’t hold on any longer and beef herd liquidations are becoming apparent as the drought situation worsens.

For those beef producers who are able to hold on through these tough times, they will play an important role in meeting the demand for beef as supplies will be hard to come by. The 2012 calf crop report is down two percent and feeder supplies are down 3.3 percent from last year. Right now the drought is the key factor dominating the cattle markets, but some experts predict that once the worst of the drought has been lifted the demand for beef will be the leading catalyst driving the markets. Consumer beef demands domestically and abroad will be a vital force impacting U.S. cattle prices.



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The 12-day war between Iran-Israel came to an end sending crude oil futures plunging as the big fund speculators removed the war risk premium.

The weather risk premium in the Ag complex is sending corn, wheat and soybean futures lower on month-end selling ahead of the market moving USDA quarterly grain stocks and acreage reports on June 30th.

Instead, funds were chasing and sending tech stocks higher with the S&P 500/NASDAQ indexes setting new all-time record highs!

June 1 USDA Hogs and pigs report was slightly bearish while the U.S. $ Index traded to new contract lows as the de-dollarization that began in 2014 continues.

Feed in the form of soybean meal futures for livestock producers got cheaper, trading to new contract lows.

The Stats Canada seeded acreage update was bullish canola and wheat.