Disciplined Hedging Program Recommended

 

The Director of Risk Management with HAMS Marketing Services is recommending a steady disciplined program of hedging a portion of hog production heading into the spring and summer. Despite record U.S. production, North American live hog prices have been holding steady since the start of the new year, supported in part by continuing steady to strong domestic demand for pork and the anticipation of increased exports.

 

Tyler Fulton, the Director of Risk Management with HAMS Marketing Services, says there is an expectation that we'll see increased movements of pork to China, especially after the new signing of the U.S.-China trade deal, but the million dollar question is, at what price level do buyers in China start pulling back from purchasing because the prices have gotten so high?

 

 

There's a lot of moving parts happening but I think generally speaking there is good reason for optimism that we could see some big improvements in export volumes and consequently some improvements in prices. But the expectations of many people that we'd be dealing with better prices now have just not come to fruition.

 

I think it does speak to the importance of kind of a steady disciplined program of hedging a portion of your production.

At this point I would be focussed more on the near term.

 

By that I'm saying the next month or two months of production, to hedge a portion of that if you haven't already and set reasonable targets that would represent maybe a five to ten percent improvement in prices that would cover off as much as 15 to 20 percent of your production into the spring and summer time frame.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.