June 2021 Cattle Feeding Projections
Posted: June 22, 2021 | Written By: Heidi Doering-Resch, Form-A-Feed
June 2021 Cattle Feeding Projections
June feedlot projections look a lot healthier than last months due to some drops in corn price on the board as investors wait to see how the weather market will play out. Lowered cost of gains and some strength to the live cattle futures shows black ink in quite a few scenarios. The weather, feed inventories, and investor money will continue to be what drives or drops the market as some yards are out of feed and will remain empty till fall, and they await to see if crop will develop due to lack of appreciable rain in many areas. These volatile markets, alongside drought conditions make it hard in these next 30 days to predict what the markets will do and therefore have both feedlots and investors sitting out.
The risk and volatility in the markets seemingly push more people to forward contract cattle, which allows the packers to continue to control cattle flow. However, if you can lock in your cattle for a profit and have your feedstuffs on hand, locking in a forward contract isn’t a bad thing when it locks in a profit.
Cattle continue to flow into the packers at weights that are higher and pushed up due to delay in delivery. Hopefully this turn of heavy cattle will soon be complete as with higher feed prices, drought and lack of abundant feed are pushing cattle to enter the feedlots lighter and therefore will slaughter at lighter finished weights. This will hopefully help alleviate the delay in delivery and increase packer demand.
It is always important to improve on feedlot efficiencies. When cost of gains are high, feedlot technologies that help improve feed conversion are worth the look and investment. Understanding your feedstuffs dry matter and cattle intakes will help you improve your feed conversion and overall lower your cost of gain, putting more cash in your pocket. With todays values, the difference in one pound of feed conversion is worth about $75.00/hd on a yearling steer. You can see why efficient cattle continue to pay higher dividends to the feedlot. Talking with your Form-A-Feed Nutrition and Production Specialist on continued ways to improve and use feedlot technologies will help you improve feed conversion, making both your feed inventory and your dollar stretch much further.