Lean hog futures ease - CME

Feb 27, 2023

Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) live cattle futures consolidated on Friday after setting a string on contract highs recently, while lean hog futures eased, reported Reuters.

The cattle market looks ripe for a correction after futures rose this month on tightening US supplies, brokers said. However, cattle inventories look even smaller than expected as ranchers have reduced their herds due to high feed prices and drought in the western United States, they said.

There were 11.7 million cattle and calves on feed for slaughter as of Feb. 1, down 4.1% from a year earlier, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in a monthly report. Analysts surveyed by Reuters were expecting a 3.5% decline.

Placements of cattle in feedlots during January were 3.6% below a year earlier, the USDA reported. Analysts expected a 2.9% drop.

"Tighter cattle numbers will be a regular occurrence in 2023 and beyond," Rabobank said in a note. "Drought and four years of herd liquidation have taken a toll."

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Video: Making budget friendly pig feed on a small livestock farm

I am going to show you how we save our farm money by making our own pig feed. It's the same process as making our cattle feed just with a slight adjustment to our grinder/ mixer that makes all the difference. We buy all the feed stuff required to make the total mix feed. Run each through the mixer and at the end of the process we have a product that can be consumed by our pigs.

I am the 2nd generation to live on this property after my parents purchased it in 1978. As a child my father hobby farmed pigs for a couple years and ran a vegetable garden. But we were not a farm by any stretch of the imagination. There were however many family dairy farms surrounding us. So naturally I was hooked with farming since I saw my first tractor. As time went on, I worked for a couple of these farms and that only fueled my love of agriculture. In 2019 I was able to move back home as my parents were ready to downsize and I was ready to try my hand at farming. Stacy and logan share the same love of farming as I do. Stacy growing up on her family's dairy farm and logans exposure of farming/tractors at a very young age. We all share this same passion to grow a quality/healthy product to share with our community. Join us on this journey and see where the farm life takes us.