Commentary: What the GIPSA Proposal will do for you…or to you, Part 2.
Change scares the American Meat Institute even as R-CALF embraces it. The AMI, looking at the entire industry, though, sees an uncertain future that R-CALF thinks is mission critical for the future success of the cattle industry.
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Nalivka says GIPSA would take away marketing opportunities for producers
John Nalivka, head of livestock consultant Sterling Marketing, says a proposed rule change for the USDA’s Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) would be a bad idea, taking away opportunities for beef and pork producers to get market premiums. The USDA is currently working on an economic analysis of the proposed rule. Nalivka spoke at the USDA’s annual Agricultural Outlook Forum Feb. 24-25 outside of Washington, D.C.
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Cattle prices higher despite increased slaughter
Cash fed cattle prices continue to find steady to higher bids, despite increasing livestock slaughter. USDA Market News reported live sales $1 per hundredweight higher yesterday at $111.00 - $112.50. The bulk of the higher bids were recorded in Nebraska. Kansas sold cattle from $110.00 - $111.00, and Texas mostly at $111.00.
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Livestock Slaughter: Cattle slaughter and average weights increase
Beef production, at 2.12 billion pounds, was 2 percent above the previous year. Cattle slaughter totaled 2.74 million head, up 1 percent from January 2010.
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Cattle feeding margins higher, packer margins drop
Cattle feeding margins improved more than $40 per head last week on higher cash prices, but packer margins declined more than $20 per head last week. Feeding margins neared the $50 per head profit level, while packer margins dipped well below the breakeven mark.
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What the GIPSA proposal will do for you…or to you
Change is never easy. If something has been in place for 7+ decades and everybody knows the rules and how to play by them, new rules are bound to create a ruckus. The mere suggestion of new GIPSA rules was enough to create a wave of palpitations. If it comes to pass, it will create a tsunami of legal suits.
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Can high pressure technology make hamburger safer?
Hailing a patent-pending process for a new line of fresh hamburger patties as a "a natural option for food safety" and a "technological breakthrough," meat-industry giant Cargill has begun using a method of high-pressure processing to produce its newly introduced "Fressure" hamburgers for food-service customers.
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$109 – really?
The article stating that fed-cattle trade developed this week at over $109 per hundredweight is incorrect. That price, and the numbers of cattle marketed, reflect late-Friday trade last week, after the USDA’s final National Cattle and Beef Summary for the week was issued. Substantial trade has yet to develop this week.
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Schwieterman: Cash cattle climb to all-time highs
It was another strong week for commodities. There were new contract highs in live cattle, feeder cattle, hogs, cotton, silver, coffee, cocoa, corn, silver, palladium, and copper. The stock market also made new highs because it seems that money just needs somewhere to go.
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Congressmen press Vilsack on timeline for GIPSA economic analysis
During a House Agriculture Committee hearing yesterday on the state of the U.S. farm economy, two Democratic committee members questioned USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack about a timeline for completion of an economic analysis of the department’s controversial GIPSA proposed rule.
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Cattle feeding margins hold above $100, packer margins drop
Cattle feeding margins declined about $10 per head last week, while packer margins declined nearly $43 per head. Feeding margins held above the $100 per head mark, while packer margins remain in single digits. The Sterling Profit Quotient lost 41 points for the week, according to estimates developed by Sterling Marketing Inc., Vale, Ore.
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- Former Eastern Livestock CEO, CFO sentenced for federal crimes
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