Cash receipts for livestock and crops in 2024 are estimated at $11.3 billion, a 4% increase over 2023. Cash receipts for milk, Idaho’s leading agricultural commodity, were estimated to be 11% higher than 2023. Those for potatoes, Idaho’s highest revenue crop, were estimated to be 6% lower than 2023.

For years, cattle feeders have relied on the “cattle crush spread” as a hedging strategy. This involves buying feeder cattle and corn while selling fat cattle. The idea has been to manage costs and stabilize returns.

As harvest season approaches, you should have a good sense of your expected yields and the financial investments required to achieve them. To best prepare for next season, utilize this information with updated data on expenses and markets to calculate your true break-even point – defined as the value per unit where all expenses for the crop are covered by its revenue.

In this Progressive Cattle Podcast episode, David visits with Kent Bacus, vice president of governmental affairs for the National Beef Cattle Association, at the Canadian Beef Industry Conference about trade negotiations with Canada, and Tyrell visits with Charley Martinez with the University of Tennessee about a study using artificial intelligence (AI) and tracking eye movement to gauge interest in what genetic information producers are looking at in bull sale catalogs.

If the local farming community’s coffee row were surveyed about the beef industry’s major players, the rancher, feedlot operator and packing plants would likely dominate responses.

As we near the feedlot fall run and cow-calf producers market their calves at the highest prices received to date, every additional pound of gain has greater profit potential.