February 2022 Cattle Feeding Projections
Posted: February 23, 2022 | Written By: Heidi Doering-Resch, M.S., Form-A-Feed
February 2022 Cattle Projections
February cattle projections once again look promising even with a continued increase in cost of gain felt by all cattle feeders.
Looking at next February and April 2023 live cattle futures, one can see why the price of cattle continues to rise to place current feeders.
Many items can impact the market in this time frame, pending worldly angst among a potential war continues to impact corn and fuel prices which certainly impacts our market. Volatility in the urea market is limiting the amount of tons feed companies can contract out to help lock in production costs. It seems everyone is in limbo as we look to continue to raise some of the most trustworthy beef in the world.
Competition will continue as we in the U.S. look for more shackle space and a reduced cow herd to impact the amount of beef to fill yards and ultimately be exported. As other countries step up to fill gaps in our production, we as an industry need to be cognitive of the extra steps needed to prove our beef is the safest and healthiest available. While cost of gain in the north seems high yet, feedlots to the south are still under pressure with higher costs yet in upwards of $0.15/lb more than here in the Midwest. This pushes cattle out of the feed yards earlier and may start to impact hot carcass weights and total beef volumes. Right now we are starting to see a trend down in HCW without impacting grade.
It seems as we continue to feel the pressure to produce more pounds of saleable beef with higher costs that we continue to talk about efficiencies. Efficient use of feed, byproducts, management and technologies should continue to be a discussion with your Form-A-Feed Nutrition and Production Specialist.
As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions you may have.