Feeding margins improve from gruesome to dismal, packers comfy

Cattle feeding margins posted a $42 per head gain last week on cash sales at $120 per hundredweight. Per head losses, however, remain in excess of $150 per head, according to the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker.

Beef packers saw their margins improve more than $15 per head on the week to approach total profits of nearly $25 per head. The Sterling Beef Profit Quotient gained 131 points for the week and the industry profitability index is now negative 467, according to estimates developed by Sterling Marketing, Inc., Vale, Ore.

Pork producer margins declined $10 cents per head last week, yet profits remain more than $4 per hog marketed. Negotiated cash hog prices declined $4.73 per hundredweight last week. Pork packer margins improved $2.42 per head for the week, pushing margins to more than $7 per head, according to the Sterling Pork Profit Tracker.

A year ago cattle feeders sold cash cattle at $112.53 per hundredweight, resulting in losses of $57.27 per head. Last year cash hogs fetched $96.38 per hundredweight, resulting in profits of $20.21per head.

The Sterling Beef and Pork Profit Trackers are calculated using actual weekly prices for both cattle and hogs, feed costs, beef and pork cutout prices, drop credits and other factors that influence profit margins.

The Sterling Beef Profit Tracker for the week ending August 25:

• Average feedyard margins: -$156.97 per head.
• Average packer margins: $24.26 per head.
• Sterling Profit Quotient: -467.

The Sterling Pork Profit Tracker for the week ending August 25:

Average farrow-to-finish margins: $4.48 per head.

• Average pork packer margins: $7.36 per head.

The Sterling Beef and Pork Profit Trackers are produced by Sterling Marketing Inc. and John Nalivka, president, Vale, Ore., and are published weekly by Drovers/CattleNetwork.

1. Feeder cattle review: Choice beef prices keep rolling higher
2. Ag markets diverge just before the long holiday weekend
3. Armyworms eat fescue pastures, hayfields
4. Commentary: New rules un-COOL
5. Oil edges up on book squaring, but posts big weekly drop
6. Cattle theft and brands

1. Commentary: New rules un-COOL
2. Former Eastern Livestock CEO, CFO sentenced for federal crimes
3. TSCRA works with sale barns to catch Houston cattle thief
4. More beef cows in worst drought regions than a year ago
5. NASA backs 3D food printer to feed growing population
6. Post-tornado composting a solution for disposal of dead livestock

1. Commentary: In praise of animal foods
2. What’s on America’s grill this weekend?
3. NASA backs 3D food printer to feed growing population
4. Meat industry associations quick to attack the new MCOOL rule
5. Seven jobs more dangerous than farming
6. Commentary: New rules un-COOL