At the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, live and feeder cattle ended the day mostly higher watching corn and waiting for direct business to develop. June live cattle closed $.77 higher at $136.57 and August live cattle closed $.80 higher at $138.17. May feeder cattle closed $.02 lower at $171.45. There was a light direct cash cattle trade in the South on Tuesday. Deals were at $140 to $141 live, $1 to […]
An agronomist says farmers are under additional pressure this year with the slow start to the growing season and ongoing supply chain concerns. UPL Technical Services Rep Lynn Justesen says those challenges make the timing for fungicide and herbicide applications even more critical. “If we don’t get it sprayed right the first time, we never do as good coming back and cleaning up fields,” he says. “But if we don’t […]
A Central Kansas cattle producer says the drought is squeezing feed supplies and higher commodity prices are leaving him with few solutions. “I’ve got a lot of neighbors running out of feed. “We don’t have any grass growing.” Keith Miller, who farms and raises cattle in Barton County, tells Brownfield he usually takes his pairs to pasture in mid-April, but this year he’s waiting. “We can get them out […]
May corn closed at $8.04, down 9 and 1/4 centsMay soybeans closed at $17.16 and 1/2, up 1 and 3/4 centsMay soybean meal closed at $464.40, down $1.60May soybean oil closed at $80.21, up 22 pointsMay wheat closed at $10.99, down 21 and 1/2 centsApr. live cattle closed at $141.35, up 87 centsJune lean hogs closed at $121.32, down $1.07May Class III milk closed at $24.38, down 75 centsMay crude […]
Soybeans were mixed, adjusting spreads. It was an up and down day with concerns about demand around these price levels against bullish fundamentals. Crush margins are strong, Ukraine is the world’s biggest exporter of sunflower oil, and both Ukraine and Russia are significant players in the global energy market. Estimates for Brazil’s crop are well below a year ago due to drought, which also limited production in Argentina, so a […]
Many Midwestern corn and soybean farmers are waiting for soils to warm up before planting. University of Minnesota Extension corn agronomist Jeff Coulter tells Brownfield soil temps at 3 to 4 inches deep should be at least 50 degrees and trending up. “So if that soil temperature drops to around 40 degrees or lower within one to two days after planting, that’s not a good thing because we can have […]
A central Illinois corn and soybean farmer says he is still waiting for a planting window to open. “Planting has been on the radar for a while, but unfortunately there has been a little too much rain on the radar as well. Elliott Uphoff of Findlay tells Brownfield they’ve received almost 2 inches of rain in the last week and while it is almost dry enough to plant today (Tuesday) […]
New research confirms consumers have negative perceptions about early cow-calf separation. Hannah Thompson-Weeman with the Animal Agriculture Alliance says the study led by researchers at the University of British Columbia puts data behind a practice animal extremist groups tend to focus on. “This study looked at several different possible methods for handing dairy calves and ultimately, they found that people felt the most positively toward a system where calves were […]
An ag economist says his concerns of tight wheat ending stocks are getting worse with more adverse weather in parts of the Western Plains and Western Cornbelt. The University of Missouri’s Ben Brown said freezing temperatures early this morning in states like Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska give farmers a reason to worry. “Well, we don’t want freeze warnings when the wheat is coming out dormancy…,” he said. “This morning would’ve […]
