Katelyn McCullock is director of the Livestock Marketing Information Center out of Denver, Colorado. She says one thing the cattle industry needs to pay close attention to right now, is what is happening with the 2019 corn crop which producers have been struggling to get planted this spring due to excessive moisture and persistently wet conditions. McCullock says the final outcome of this crop will have a direct impact on the calf and yearling markets moving forward.
“I think a lot of this is playing into the corn market and what folks are seeing or not yet knowing is what corn acres are going to do and where that yield is going to end up,” she explained. “That’s pushing prices higher across the board and adding to some of the weakness here in the cattle market.”
McCullock says that as feed and corn prices continue to rise, the price of cattle is expected to lower in days ahead. Until the industry is able to get a handle on what this corn crop will actually look like in terms of planted acres and forecasted production, McCullock says there is essentially a guarantee that the uncertainty in the markets will persist. The trade will have its first indication of these numbers in USDA’s June Acreage Report scheduled for publication on the 28th of this month. The data in this report will be farmer-based and will give the industry an opportunity to compare what the crop actually looks like against the prospective plantings data that was released in March. At this point based on the weekly Crop Progress Reports from USDA, it is certain the industry is facing lower than intended planted acres. McCullock says the LMIC has revised its forecast down quite a bit to adjust for this probability.
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