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The Midwest Cattleman · September 10, 2020 · P3

September 10, 2020 Volume 26 No. 8

THE 2020 U.S. BEEF CATTLE MARKET AND CONSIDERATIONS FOR MARKETING BEEF
CURRENT ECONOMIC CONDITIONS DIRECTLY TO CONSUMERS
By Chris Prevatt By Brad White, K-State Research & Extension
The last several months Due to the COVID-19 limitations,
have been exceptional- consumers are looking to farmers
ly stressful for all partici- and ranchers to fill the void
pants in the U.S. cattle in-
dustry, due to the outbreak Most will agree there is nothing
of COVID-19 (coronavirus) that compares to the taste of fresh
in China and its resulting produce or meat that comes straight
spread throughout the world. from the farm. And in light of per-
The unknowns of this health ceived food shortages and a desire to
crisis have resulted in ex- The last several months have been exception- know where their food comes from,
treme volatility in U.S. cattle ally stressful for all participants in the U.S. an increasing number of consumers
cattle industry.
markets. The entire U.S. cat- are seeking a farm-to-table purchas-
tle and beef supply chain has been impacted by COVID-19. ing experience.
During late 2019 and early 2020, many forecasts were pro- Entrepreneurial producers working to fill the demand
continued on page 12
for homegrown beef should consider several factors before
SHOCKS TO BEEF INDUSTRY WITH launching into this business, said Kansas State University
experts during a recent Beef Cattle Institute Cattle Chat pod-
IMPLICATIONS FOR CATTLE, BEEF PRICES cast.
K-State’s Tonsor spoke at virtual “One of the first challenges is to find customers who are
K-State Risk & Profit Conference continued on page 15
The beef cattle industry has already experienced three big
“shocks” this year and the effects are ongoing, but have been FEEDLOTS RELOAD IN JULY
By Derrell S. Peel, Extension Livestock
blunted to some extent, according to a Kansas State Univer- Marketing Specialist, Oklahoma State University
sity agricultural economist.
The first jolt came in mid-March when the COVID-19 pan- The latest USDA Cattle on Feed report pegs the August
demic sparked 1 feedlot inventory at 11.284 million head, 101.5 percent of
stay-at-home last year. This is the largest August 1 feedlot inventory in the
orders in most data series back to 1996. July feedlot marketings were 99.4
states. percent of one year ago. Placements in July were 111 percent
“That had of last year and were the largest July placements since 2011.
big implica- Marketings were about as expected but placements were well
tions for food above even the highest pre-report expectations and pushed
consumption,” the on-feed total slightly higher than expected.
said Glynn Feedlot dynamics are
Tonsor, a live- a challenge to figure
stock market out after the turbulence
specialist with of the first half of the
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the beef supply chain and year. Placements were
consumer beef demand, but the industry is working through a continued on
backlog of market-ready animals. page 10 down 17.7 percent year
over year in February,
RED MEAT PRODUCTION March, and April and,
Commercial cattle slaughter was 2.918 million head for the despite the 11 percent
month of July, a 0.7% decrease from last year but the second
largest monthly slaugh- continued on page 14
ter for 2020 behind
March (2.922 million
head). Although cattle Coming Sales-30
slaughter declined mar- Life is Simple-5
ginally from last year, Market Report-8
commercial beef produc- Agribusiness
tion reached its high-
est level for the year at Directory-28
over 2.4 billion pounds

continued on page 10