{"id":69742,"date":"2025-07-17T11:19:19","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T11:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/69742\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T11:19:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T11:19:19","slug":"cattle-call-cash-cattle-bounce-back-imports-and-futures-spark-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/69742\/","title":{"rendered":"Cattle Call: Cash cattle bounce back, imports and futures spark debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cattle Call is an original production of the Nebraska Rural Radio Association and is brought to you by\u00a0Wolf Auto<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 Small Town Strong.<\/p>\n

Cash cattle markets saw a stronger-than-expected performance last week, with Northern cattle trading up $5 to reach $240. Brad Kooima of Kooima, Kooima & Varilek Trading shared on this week\u2019s Cattle Call that the market strength came as a surprise to many in the industry.<\/p>\n

He noted that Southern trade was harder to pinpoint but hovered around $230. One key factor, he said, was how quickly cattle sold late in the week were delivered early this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you saw the packer also use up some inventory, got himself closer to the knife\u2026 and there\u2019s that, my favorite word lately \u2013 leverage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kooima continues to see the Northern cattle industry as the driver of market momentum.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe North continues to paddle the boat here. And as goes the North, so goes the market, in my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Balancing Imports, Exports, and Consumer Transparency
<\/strong>The conversation turned toward the long-running imbalance between beef imports and exports, and what that means for domestic producers.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeef production year-to-date in the United States is down a little over 300 million pounds,\u201d Kooima explained. \u201cConversely, our import\/export has been in a great imbalance for a long time. Twenty-two of the last 23 months, we\u2019ve imported more beef than we\u2019ve exported.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much of the imported product, particularly from Brazil, is grinding meat for use in fast food or processed products. Kooima acknowledged the tension this creates in the industry, especially regarding transparency.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we need to have some imports of beef. I would be also very much in the camp that the consumer should be able to know what they\u2019re eating is coming from,\u201d he said. \u201cYou peel a banana, it\u2019s got a sticker on it\u2026 That part of this whole issue just plagues me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attracting Young Producers: Risk and Fairness
<\/strong>In response to a listener question about how to bring young people into the cattle industry, Kooima admitted it\u2019s a complex challenge, but not without hope.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not completely dead. There\u2019s a few of these entrepreneurial, hardworking young people that are willing to take it on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He pointed to policy solutions like the \u201c50\/14\u201d negotiated cash trade rule as one possible way to make the industry more accessible to independent and younger producers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt allowed the regular, the small guy, the farmer, the non-corporate feeder to have at least a kind of a level playing field with the big corporates,\u201d Kooima explained.<\/p>\n

Futures Market Discount Creates Leverage But Comes with Caution
<\/strong>Another listener question addressed the wide gap between futures and cash markets and whether that gives feedlots more leverage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been interesting and record-breaking levels, frankly,\u201d Kooima said. \u201cThe steeply discounted futures to cash\u2026 does create leverage because it gets us to be current.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, however, that the wide basis can also unintentionally suppress the market.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt actually has a tendency to drag the market down because people are easier sellers\u2026 They can\u2019t wait to cover their hedge and get this plus basis deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said there\u2019s ongoing work within the industry, including among the Iowa Cattlemen, to propose ideas to the CME, such as a demand feature that could help improve convergence between futures and cash.<\/p>\n

Looking Ahead
<\/strong>As of midweek, Kooima noted that early trade signals point to a steady or stronger cash market once again.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe South has traded a few cattle at $230\u2026 There\u2019s been just a tiny bit of $240,\u201d he said. \u201cI think we\u2019re going to trade $242 or maybe a little better than that in the North and maybe more like $232 or $233 in the South before it\u2019s all said and done this week.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cattle Call is an original production of the Nebraska Rural Radio Association and is brought to you by\u00a0Wolf…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":69743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[64,135,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-69742","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-markets","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-markets","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114868307648849495","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}