In July, the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released the mid-year Cattle report, which provided a snapshot of U.S. cattle inventory as well as a glimpse into cow-calf producers’ intentions for retaining heifers.

The percentage of steer and heifer carcasses grading Prime so far during 2020 has outpaced normal levels. The average percent Prime for the first seven months of 2020 was 10.6%, which is the highest January-July average on record and about 2% higher than during the first seven months of 2019.

Winter wheat is used for grain-only, forage-only or dual-purpose systems targeting cattle grazing and grain production. In the Southern Plains, stocker producers interested in grazing winter wheat pastures often begin planting wheat in late August or early September. The desire to jump-start wheat forage growth by planting early in the fall must be balanced against frequent seasonal drought and hot soil temperatures that prevent wheat germination.

Meatpacking facilities have continued to recover weekday slaughter capacity and have used Saturday as an opportunity to improve overall weekly slaughter totals.

The U.S. is on track for record production of beef, pork and broilers in 2020. Before COVID-19, it was recognized that meat trade would be critical for markets in 2020 and that certainly remains true at this point.

Cattle supplies and movement through the supply chain have been headline topics in 2020. Disruptions caused many changes that impacted producer decisions. It is also important to occasionally take a longer-term view at cattle supplies. Recent reports released provide the most current update on the state of cattle supplies. 

The struggles experienced by the beef industry during the coronavirus pandemic do provide some bright reasons for optimism, said Randy Blach, CEO of CattleFax, during a digital presentation at the Texas A&M Beef Cattle Short Course on Aug. 3.

The USDA recently released a preliminary report of their findings from the investigation into price spread in the cattle markets.

Last Friday, the USDA released the July Cattle on Feed report. Feedlot placements in June were 1.8 million head, 102.1% of last year. June marketings were 1.97 million head, up 1.3% year over year.

Over the past two months at the time of this writing, U.S. beef packers had to implement new health protocols for dealing with COVID-19 that might have hindered their ability to process cattle.