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Mississippi Cattlemen's Association
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Southern Producers Heifer Sale
Over 300 locally-raised bred replacement heifers will be offered on August 25th in Hattiesburg. All heifers will be preg-checked by a veterinarian and scored for their pelvic measurements.
For details on the heifers, visit the T3 Brangus website or call Mike Keene at 601.606.7382.
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Successful Stocker Conference
Nearly 100 producers registered at the Deep South Stocker Conference in Meridian to hear speakers discuss various facets of the industry.
Following the program, several of the attendees visited Miller Cattle Company.
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Learn @ Lunch: Economics
Each Tuesday and Thursday during September, cattlemen may attend the free online educational sessions from their own home or office.
Learn @ Lunch sessions provide practical knowledge for beef cattle producers of all types to enhance financial viability and improve farm management decision making.
Click here for speakers and webinar details.
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Vote for Jessica
Junior Cattlemen's Association member Jessica Smith is Mississippi's only contestant in FMC's National Anthem Singing Contest.
FMC Agricultural Products is offering $25,000 in college scholarships to 4-H and FFA students in their online contest.
Click here to hear our Pearl River County contestant sing and vote for her to win the top prize of a $10,000 scholarship.
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Got hay?
 CattleFax reports that, with the worst pasture conditions in the past 15 years, 70 percent of the U.S. cattle inventory is located in regions of drought.
With this in mind, producers with extra forage are encouraged to consider baling additional hay to sell or donate to cattlemen in drought areas.
Hay can be listed on the Hay Directory at Mississippi State University or the Department of Agriculture & Commerce's Market Bulletin.
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HSUS, OCM Form Alliance
In a news conference last Thursday, Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) President Fred Stokes announced that it would file a lawsuit seeking an injunction against the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service, Cattlemen's Beef Board and the Beef Promotion Operating Committee.
Stokes stated during the press briefing that the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is helping fund its efforts to file the lawsuit. OCM claims to advocate for a fair, competitive agricultural marketplace; however, in doing so it partnered with an organization known for its anti-agriculture agenda.
National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) President J.D. Alexander expressed disgust following the announcement, saying that the Organization for Competitive Markets has formed a partnership with HSUS to destroy more than 25 years of market development and consumer demand building by the Beef Checkoff Program.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court Friday, seeks a permanent injunction against the use of beef checkoff funds by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association as a contractor.
The suit was filed on behalf of Mike Callicrate, plaintiff, vs the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service, the Cattlemen's Beef Board (CBB), and CBB's operating committee.
Stokes stated, ""I personally, and OCM, and every cowboy in America owe a debt of gratitude to HSUS. This is historic. We are not going to have this opportunity again."
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Even Ethanol Waiver Won't Crack Corn
According to The Wall Street Journal, high corn prices increase the cost of ethanol, so some refiners will choose to run down existing inventory or use credits to meet their renewable fuel obligations instead.
Such market logic could also blunt the potential impact of waiving the mandate itself. An ethanol refinery reflects sunk capital. As long as it is profitable to turn corn into ethanol, relative to the price of gasoline or competing fuel additives, refineries will run and bid up the price of corn.
The Wall Street Journal editorial board indicated on Saturday that, "Ethanol is a man-made disaster that could be stopped if the EPA or others in Washington cared for human health as much as they do power politics."
Click to read The Wall Street Journal article.
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Beef Commercial
A candlelit table for two, a couple sizzling filets -- Lean Beef makes any occasion a special occasion.
In honor of the 20-year anniversary of the checkoff's "Beef. It's What's For Dinner." brand, the beef checkoff is promoting beef in a new way this grilling season - by way of two online video commercials.
Featured on ABC.com and hulu.com, the two videos quickly generated 10 million impressions.
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Market Notes
August 10, 2012
Dr. John Michael Riley
Cash Cattle:
Cash fed cattle moved higher again this week. Trade movement was low enough that no trends were called this week for individual states, but the five-area, regional, price was higher by$1.58/cwt at $119.16/cwt. In Oklahoma City, feeder steers over 800 pounds were $2-$4/cwt lower, while feeders under 800 pounds were steady to $2/cwt lower. Feeder heifers in OKC were $2-$3/cwt lower. Mississippi feeders steers sold $3-$5/cwt higher and heifers were $2-$5/cwt higher. Cull cows were $1-$6/cwt higher and bulls in Mississippi were called at $1-$6/cwt higher.
Futures:
Live cattle futures moved moderately higher this week. Prices caught steam Wednesday and Thursday as cash boxed beef prices improved. Prices cooled on Friday as corn surged early and cash trade failed to fully materialize. Feeder cattle contracts through the remainder of 2012 increased slightly while winter and spring 2013 contracts fell slightly.
Corn futures ended the week mostly even with last week, but surpassed the recently set record price on Friday morning. USDA released it's monthly supply and demand estimates on Friday morning. The report revealed a smaller estimated corn crop. Yield is currently projected 123.4 bu/ac compared to 146.0 projected last month and 126.2 expected by pre-report analyst. After factoring in a projected decrease in the number of acres that will be harvested (from 88.9 million to 87.4) this would put production at 10.779 billion bushels. The production estimate was 192 million lower than the pre-report expectations of 10.971 billion bushels (the pre-report yield and production expectations resulted in an implied harvested acreage number of 86.9 million). The lower supply will cause some rationing by end users. This is reflected by USDA in that projected corn used for feed was lowered to 4.075 billion bushels, down 725 million, projected corn used for ethanol was lowered 400 million bushels to 4.5 billion, and corn exports were lowered to a projected 1.3 billion bushels, down 300 million. Collectively USDA projects corn ending stocks at 650 million bushels, a 45% decline from last month's expectations but in-line with the average pre-report estimate of 651. The smaller yield and production number had traders nervous in the early trading and corn surged to $8.48 3/4 per bushel. After the knee-jerk reaction, prices cooled as all USDA values were in the ballpark of what had already been priced into the market, especially the ending stock number.
Beef:
Boxed beef prices moved higher this week after last week's leveling off which curtailed seven weeks of negative trading. Granted, prices typically move lower through the summer and usually start to increase at this time of year. Still, the sharp decline experienced this year felt harsh and the recent uptick is welcomed. Choice wholesale beef finished with a weekly average of $181.46/cwt, up $3,57. Select ended the week up $4.05/cwt at $175.19.
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Calendar
August
14 Leake CCA
16 Covington CCA
21 Kemper CCA
21 Pike CCA
21 Clay Co. Field Day
25 Producers' Heifer
Sale, Hattiesburg
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