INTRODUCTION The market of cattle prices is something that changes constantly from day to day. More specifically the factors that impact feeder cattle prices have an effect on the cattle market, consumers and producers. These factors that affect feeder cattle prices include where the calves come from, location and weather conditions at the feedlot or where the calves came from, the market of cattle prices, the weight of the calves, the breed of cattle, and the quality of the cattle’s carcass. Each of these factors can explain to the producers and consumers about the impact of cattle prices and how the market works between the two. Whether the location of the producer is in the dry arid part of west Texas or the humid rainy areas of east Texas, …show more content…
The consumer will get a high quality product at the price given in the store after the price is determined from the price of the feeder calves when sold to the packer and what the prices in the economy is at a reasonable and affordable price for the consumer. Factors that impact the prices of meat, such as corn and oil prices, also impact the prices that are given to feeder cattle as well as the direct factors listed above. Most of the determinants for the prices of feeder calves will be discussed, reviewed, and researched for the importance of the feeder cattle market. The objective of this paper is to determine the factors that impact cattle prices in today’s cattle markets. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Origin of Calves The calves that come into a feedlot come from different parts of Texas, United States, and the World. According to Barham and Troxel (2007), the southeastern region of the United States contains around fifty-three percent of the country’s beef cattle operations. Most of the cattle operations in this region have less than fifty beef cows and most of these cattle operations sell their cattle in a livestock auction to make their profit. Also the feedlots the cattle are taken too, differ as in how they are set up and operated. …show more content…
The composition of breeds such as bone size, muscle areas, and which cattle put on fat more than muscle or vice versa. An experiment in Arkansas studied the frequencies of breeds and colors that entered into a feedlot as well as cost in value in the years of 2000 and 2005 to compare the differences. The breeds were determined by frame score, muscle thickness, color, breed characteristics, and body structure. These cattle breeds were based upon perception of breeds instead of the breed composition itself. From year 2000 to 2005 Angus, Angus crossed with Hereford and Charolais, and Brahman cattle increased their frequency coming into the feedlot and their value. A lot of the one that decreased frequency and value had to do with Limousin or a Limousin cross. Also in that study the color of the cattle that increased in 2000 to 2005, were yellow-white face, black-white face, black and gray, and the ones that decreased were white, red-white face, and red (Troxel and Barham, 2007). These facts from this article are also looked at from producers to produce cattle along the trends that will maximize their profits. Also, when producers start going along with the trend of the breeds and color it helps the feedlots keep a uniform product that will help them in the selling of feeder calves to packers or producers. Cattle that are uniform produce a uniform product which overall helps the
In today's society, organic food is a giant new thing in which food is produced without any chemicals. In other words, the product must be 100 percent natural. A major food source of the American people is meat, and the way that it is produced today is a major issue. In feedlots, where cattle are fed grain to grow before being slaughtered, the conditions are terrible and horrifying. Cattle are confined to a limited amount of space and not allowed to roam freely. Also in these cattle growing yards, the risk of disease is much higher in these animals than out on the open range grazing on the grass. Beef critics say that there are no cattle breeds that posses the amounts of marbling present to make a good steak. It is a true statement to say that these critics are very indeed wrong. Also, Many people also do not know that that the meat from cattle that are fed grain, is high in fat content and has too much marbling. Grass-fed beef is much leaner than grain-fed beef, has less fats, and is produced all naturally. Therefore, grass-fed beef is much healthier and safer to eat than grain-fed beef.
this notion of stable supply and demand affected prices of farm commodities. “Low prices on
From a financial and marketing standpoint, the effects have been catastrophic. In some areas, milk production has decreased by an average of two liters daily and calving index (efficiency at which new calves are produced) went down by an average of twenty days (Davies NP). Th...
Speed, in a word, or, in the industry’s preferred term, “efficiency.” Cows raised on grass simply take longer to reach slaughter weight than cows raised on a richer diet, and for a half a century now the industry has devoted itself to shortening a beef animal’s allotted span on earth… what gets a steer from 80 to 1,100 pounds in fourteen months is tremendous quantities of corn, protein and fat supplements, and an arsenal of new drugs. (71)
Bovine have been a part of this world for the existence of mankind. They have been used for all necessities; such as, food and draft power. Europeans first brought cattle to the United States when they came over by boat. Since this time, the beef industry has played a big part in the U.S. economy, especially, the sale of live cattle. As stated by Thomas G. Field in Beef Production and Management Decisions Fifth Edition, on average forty-six billion dollars are shown via cash receipts annually. Nebraska, Texas, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Iowa, California, South Dakota, and Missouri each generate over one billion dollars in cattle sales per year. It also takes many other resources for a farmer or rancher to run cattle...
The drought and drop in the market price of beef caused most of the cattle ranchers to leave Arizona. During the height of the Cattle Boom, ranchers stocked one cow per five acres. However, ranchers in Arizona today stock one cow per 65 acres (Guido 2). Modern day ranchers now are keeping “a keen eye toward future climate challenges, and are tuning their ranch operations to the environment” (Guido 1).
... 80%. This solution, however, is considered too expensive and impractical to the cattle industry, and as a result is going unrecognized (Pollan 82). The food system is more concerned with profit, production, and efficiency, and this is why very little has changed in the last few decades. Although profit is a validly arguable for many people, the means in which to gain a high profit has become extremely unethical and hazardous to the general populations health.
In today’s traditional factory farms, beef cattle are being raised in cruel living environments. In an article written by Berry Estabrook titled Feedlots vs Pastures: Two Very Different Ways to Fatten Beef Cattle, published in “The Atlantic” written December 28th, 2011 says that most of Americas beef comes from factory farms. They are crammed by the thousands into crowded, confined dirt lots. The cattle have hardly any room to move around and are forced to live in piles of their own excrement. Due to the many cows, they are deprived from ve...
Over 1,000,000 cattle roamed the open range. At this time, people in the north had money to buy beef and cattle which was in great demand. A cow that cost 4 to5 dollars a head in Texas was going for 40 to 50 dollars a head in the east. Ranchers hired cowboys for the cattle drives north, realizing the great opportunity for a large profit if they could reach the railroads in Abilene, Kansas.
The seemingly simple term “rancher” is commonly misinterpreted. The term rancher may bring to mind a guy riding a bucking bull or horse in a western movie or maybe a tough looking guy without much brains raising cattle on the prairie. Other people think of a farmer. Actual ranchers specifically raise cattle, while farmers raise crops, hogs, and poultry. Modern ranchers are hardworking men and women who live off the land raising cattle for consumers. Despite popular beliefs, it takes a lot of knowledge to raise cattle. American ranchers use business and technology skills to raise cattle. Even with these skills, they are still at the mercy of Mother Nature and gamble with her every year.
For as long as there have been horse slaughterhouses in the United States, they have been an issue of controversy (Associated Press State and Local Wire, 8/7/01). Currently, only two slaughterhouses that produce horse meat intended...
At the time of the case, the beef industry was in a state of decline. Increasing consumer sentiment towards the negative health effects of red meat timed with increasing inventories of product supplied from Canada and Mexico as a result of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) had caused prices in the consumer market to plummet. (Mohr, 1999) As a result, ranchers were seeing that their finished product was commanding lesser dollar values while their inputs of feed and medication was remaining the same or rising.
British Charolais Cattle Society. (2012). Charolais. Retrieved December 10, 2013, from British Charolais Cattle Society: http://www.charolais.co.uk/
As market prices are determined in free markets by the interaction of demand and supply, changes in market prices are due to changes in demand or supply, or both.
...gement of grass must be taken. On farms where grassland management is poor, rising beef prices will be eroded by rising costs.