Page 3 - MWC 3-10-2022s

The Midwest Cattleman · March 10, 2022 · P3

March 10, 2022 Volume 28 No. 3

RUSSIAN INVASION IS BAD NEWS TIGHTENING SUPPLIES
FOR U.S. MEAT CONSUMERS By Stephen R. Koontz, Department of Agriculture and
By Jennifer Shike Resource Economics, Colorado State University
Will the expected sanc- Cattle and beef markets and abundant supplies at the
tions on Russia impact glob- continue to show good and farm and ranch level. These
al meat trade and demand? improving strength into abundant supplies have com-
2022. The opening weeks of pounded the market dynam-
Steiner Consulting Group
posed this question in a re- February communicate po- ics also attributable to supply
tential tightening of, most no- chain disruptions experi-
cent Daily Livestock Report.
“A while back, Russia was tably, feeder animal supplies enced since the beginning of
a major buyer of proteins in into the summer. Likewise, continued on page 12
the world market. We still In the last decade, Russia the strong volumes of fed
slaughter suggest that the
remember when prices for has become self-sufficient in
chicken leg quarters in the providing its own meat pro- substantial volume of long-
fed cattle are being worked
U.S., or the price of beef in tein. According to USDA’s
Brazil, would be greatly af- Foreign Agricultural Service through. All this is reason-
ably bullish news for cattle
fected by events in Russia. data, as recently as 2010,
That is no longer the case,” Russia relied on pork im- markets. And a fairly sub-
stantial change from the past
Steiner Consulting Group
wrote. continued on page 10 three years of large numbers
THE CONTRIBUTION OF HEIFERS PLACED IN
RECORD BEEF EXPORTS IN 2021 FEEDLOTS TOWARDS ESTIMATED NATIONAL
By Josh Maples, Department of Agricultural Economics, Mississippi State University
HERD CONTRACTION
The latest monthly Live- setting year for beef exports By Elliott Dennis, Livestock Marketing and Risk Management Economist
stock and Meat International that exceeded expectations. Beef cow herds generally vious year. This signals to the
Trade dataset was recently According to the report, consist of four types of cattle: market that fewer feeder cattle
released and included the De- during December 2021, beef bulls, cows, both bred and devel- are expected to be delivered to
cember trade estimates. This exports totaled 288 million opment heifers, and feeder cat- the market in the coming year.
release provides a complete pounds. This was one per- tle. Producers use bulls, cows, A significant amount of at-
look at beef trade during cent above December 2020 and heifers to make feeder cat- tention has been given to the
2021 which was a record levels and exports to main- tle. Heifers are either retained accelerated pace of cow slaugh-
land China saw the biggest from the producers' feeder cat- ter in the United States, and
increase and exports to Mex- tle or are purchased from heif- rightfully so. The pace of beef
ico experienced the largest er development programs to cow slaughter in 2021 finished
decline among the top desti- replace cows as they move be- with approximately 10% more
nations. Imports during De- yond their reproductive life. A beef cows harvested in 2021
cember totaled 273 million beef cow herd grows, both indi- than in 2020 and 12% more
pounds. vidually and nationally, when than in 2019. This is the most
continued on page 10
the number of cows and heifers aggressive year-over-year beef
is larger this year than the pre- cow slaughter since 2016. This
AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL EXPORTS vious year. This signals to the accelerated slaughter has been
SHATTERED RECORDS IN 2021 market that more feeder cattle helped by larger consumer
The American agricultural “These record-breaking are expected to be delivered to incomes from personal sav-
industry posted its highest trade numbers demonstrate the market in the coming year. ings, government transfers,
annual export levels ever re- that U.S. agriculture is in- Herd contraction is when the and assistance programs. This
corded in 2021, Secretary of credibly resilient as it contin- number of cows and heifers is combined with consumer ex-
Agriculture Tom Vilsack an- ues to provide high-quality, smaller this year than the pre- continued on page 14
nounced recently. The final cost-competitive farm and
2021 trade data published continued on page 12
by the Department of Com- Coming Sales-46
merce shows that exports of Life is Simple-5
U.S. farm and food products Market Report-8
to the world totaled $177 bil-
lion, topping the 2020 total Agribusiness
by 18 percent and eclipsing Directory-44
the previous record, set in
2014, by 14.6 percent.