Feeder cattle markets, after an impressive counter-seasonal run this fall, appear to be taking a bit of a break before Thanksgiving.  Feeder markets are holding mostly steady with slight gains still noted for lightweight stockers.  Some winter grazing demand continues in Oklahoma but highly variable weather which includes cold temperatures and wet conditions has made receiving cattle and maintaining cattle health a challenge the past week or so. 

USDA-NASS released the monthly Cattle on Feed report Nov. 22. The number of cattle and calves on feed for slaughter market in the U.S. for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 head or more totaled 10.607 million head on Nov. 1. The inventory was almost 6 percent below Nov. 1, 2012, and marks the 15th consecutive month with lower cattle on feed numbers than the previous year. And it was the lowest number of Nov. 1 cattle on feed since the data series began in 1996.

A new animal activist case in Colorado shows how abuse laws may be turning the tables against activists targeting operations that harm animals.

A majority of respondents to a Progressive Cattleman poll expect to see corn prices hold in their downward pattern this year.

I was explaining about pregnancy testing to a young veterinary student. She plunged her arm into the cow and palpated.

Recently, I read about the life of Phillips Brooks, one of America’s most famous clergymen and the man who built Boston’s historic Trinity Church.

For the first eight months of 2013, the U.S. beef trade balance was positive to the tune of almost 30,000 metric tons (534,181 tons exported against 504,575 tons imported), whereas over the same period last year, imports were slightly higher, according to USDA Foreign Agricultural Service data.

Remember that old question, “Where’s the beef?” Students in Hagerstown, Indiana, have the answer: “Out back.”

With a modest Indiana beef and crop farm origin, I never dreamed that an earthquake in a foreign country would change my world, but that is precisely what happened in January 2010 with the devastating earthquake in Haiti.