Record Jump For Hog Prices On Monday

Sep 28, 2021

Forward hog contract prices took a big jump Monday.

Tyler Fulton with Hams Marketing Services attributes the jump to the most recent Hogs and Pigs Report, which showed a significant drop in projected market hog supplies over the course of the next six months and beyond.

He commented on another factor.

"That coincided with a change in hog futures limits. They expanded those limits to pretty much the largest that we've ever seen before, or at least in my memory, and consequently we saw the biggest move in hog futures and therefore forward prices that we've ever seen. It was a pretty remarkable day and it reflects the fact that hog supplies are going to be down roughly six per cent according to the USDA from year ago levels, which is very significant."

Fulton also touched on U.S. cash prices.

"We typically see more influence from seasonality on the day to day cash prices that producers that haven't got a committed contract have. They've been lagging what we've seen on contracted hogs or on hogs that are referencing the pork carcass cutout, the value of the pork that the packers sell. The reality is the report out last week will likely help raise up those cash prices as well."

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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.