During the past three months, from October to December, the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s (APHIS) Smuggling Interdiction and Trade Compliance (SITC) program seized and destroyed more than 1,900 pounds of prohibited pork, poultry and ruminant products from New York City-area retailers.

Beef exports continued on a record pace in the latest data for November. Total beef exports were up 8.1% in November and are up 18.5% year over year for the first 11 months of the year.

During December 2020, the price for 500- to 600-pound steers in South Dakota briefly averaged above $190 per hundredweight (cwt) for a couple of weeks, a level last observed in early 2016.

The December Cattle on Feed report showed November placements 103.6% of last year and marketings 105.3% of one year ago. November had one more business day than 2021.

Livestock market transparency takes the spotlight on Capitol Hill as two bills make it past the House floor, legislation that would extend the authorization for livestock mandatory reporting (LMR) through the end of September.

Based on the latest USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) federally inspected Livestock Slaughter report, the inferred (federally inspected production/federally inspected head slaughtered) carcass weight for September is 827.1 pounds, while the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) weekly actual and estimated federally inspected Livestock Slaughter reports showed that the inferred weight for October was 831.8 pounds, about 4.7 pounds heavier month-over-month.

On Dec. 10, a severe tornado outbreak unleashed at least 50 tornadoes across the mid-South, destroying homes and entire communities and causing widespread damage to farmlands and livestock facilities.

As 2021 winds to a close, cattle markets seem to finally be able to move out from under the specter of the pandemic impacts that began 18 months ago.