February 2020 FAF Projections February brings the hopes of some market capitalization as the month of Valentines needs to shed some more love on the cattle markets. As of the middle of the month, a bounce back in the live cattle market isn’t enough to make Holstein cattle appreciable as competition for large runs of […]

January 2020 Cattle Feeding Projections It’s a new year and a new page in the cattle closeout book. We look back at 2019 with lots of lessons learned in the feedlot and a continued faith that a new year will bring trade deals to fruition and an increase in beef demand. January feedlot values look […]

December 2019 Cattle Feeding Projections December Form-A-Feed feedlot projections continue to show perhaps some early Christmas gifts as once again the numbers look a little uplifting. All except yearling steers show margins in the black with some hefty margins being realized in the Holstein market based on a reduction in the basis contract and a […]

November 2019 Form-A-Feed Cattle Projections Its nice to look at cattle projections and see most values in the black. After the wet spring, harsh winter and now a wet fall with all the swings in the cattle market, its nice to be able to look at positive numbers during a time frame when many ranchers […]

There are some positive notes to this month’s cattle feeding projections finding certain classes of cattle back in the black. One thing to definitely highlight is that the low efficiency groups sort themselves to the bottom justifying the cause for better management and quality feedstuffs to ensure a positive return on investment. Feeder calf prices […]

2019 June Form-A-Feed Cattle Projections show a mixed bag when it comes to profits and COG (cost of gain). Still taking into consideration the pressure that the delayed harvest has on getting crops, i.e. feedstuffs, into the ground puts a lot of pressure on the cattle market when many feedlots are already short of feedstuffs […]

May beef cattle projections confirm the tough economy cattle producers are facing when trying to work through Mother Nature and current markets. There is more red showing up once again, with smaller profit margins on certain types of cattle. This makes managing your risk that much more important. From the last few turns of closeouts, […]

April 2019 Form-A-Feed cattle projections show some pretty steady numbers compared to last month, it seems most cattle types increased in price according to what the CME live cattle board did as well and thus showing a positive net return. A few items to note: Distillers have seemed to rectify themselves amongst talk of a […]

March 2019 Cattle Feeding Projections Looking at the March 2019 Cattle Feeding projections – for the first time in a long time all figures are listed in black; a welcomed sight. Focusing on a live cattle market that seems to be positive regardless of a Holstein or a colored calf on feed, in addition to […]

February 2019 Cattle Feeding Projections February cattle projections are a bit of a surprise as a lot of the cattle are in the black this month. A strong live cattle board certainly has played into this even though as I write this, the board closed down for the day. It has been helpful that the […]

January 2019 Cattle Feeding Projections Welcome to the New Year! January has been a little bit confusing from a cattle feeding standpoint thus far. Mother Nature continues to throw her punches and keeps us all on our toes. Bedding and barns have sure become a hot commodity. The Live Cattle Futures have many of us […]

December 2018 Cattle Feeding Projections The month of December is proving to be an up and down ride for many cattle feeding operations.  Looking to the challenges we have faced this month include a very tight supply of distillers grains resulting in many high priced loads of distillers being delivered to the feedlot.  The ethanol […]