Page 3 - MWC 2-3-2022s

The Midwest Cattleman · February 3, 2022 · P3

February 3, 2022 Volume 28 No. 1

EPA ON STANDBY AS SUPREME COURT THREE QUESTIONS FOR THE
RECONSIDERS WOTUS RULINGS 2022 CATTLE MARKET
By Jenna Hoffman By Kenny Burdine, Livestock Marketing Specialist, University of Kentucky
Supreme Court justices From my per-
said recently that they will spective, cow-calf
consider a 15-year-long Wa- operators have
ters of the U.S. (WOTUS) been as frustrat-
issue involving a couple — ed over the last
the Sacketts — from Idaho couple of years as
who previously pleaded and I have ever seen
won a case regarding their them. Several
building a home near Priest commodity mar-
Lake. The AFBF suggests EPA halt their plan to kets improved a
EPA says the half-acre lot rewrite WOTUS until it has more guid- great deal during
the couple built their home ance in deciding which waters are catego- 2021, but the im-
on contains wetlands, plac- rized under the federal jurisdiction. (FJ) provement in calf
ing the land under the juris- prices was pretty
diction of the Clean Water EPA’s determination that the minimal. In re-
Act. Therefore, the Sacketts lot is considered wetland. ality, the cow-calf sector has COVID in 2020 and sharply
would have required a per- The Pacific Legal Foundation been handed 4-5 consecutive higher grain prices in 2021,
mit to build on the land. has chosen to represent the challenging years. Funda- calf markets have struggled
The Sacketts have since couple to show their support mentals appeared to be set- to gain any traction at all. I
filed a petition, disputing the continued on page 10 ting up for price improvement
two years ago, but between continued on page 12
BEEF EXPORTS SET NEW VALUE
RECORD IN NOVEMBER CATTLE MARKETS IN 2022

U.S. beef export value cord pace at more than $7.5 By Josh Maples, Department of Agricultural Economics, Mississippi State University
reached another new high in billion. the weekly 5-area averages,
November, topping $1 billion November beef exports fed cattle prices averaged
for the second time in 2021, totaled 123,641 metric tons about $138 per cwt in De-
according to data released by (mt), up 7% from a year cember 2021 (the full month-
USDA and compiled by the ago and the fourth largest ly weighted average report
U.S. Meat Export Federation monthly volume in the post- hasn’t been released yet and
(USMEF). November pork BSE era. Export value was a could be a little different).
exports were lower than a record $1.05 billion, up 49% This is sharply higher than
year ago, but year-to-date ex- year-over-year and exceed- the monthly weighted aver-
port value maintained a re- ing the previous high set in age for December 2020 which
August 2021. For January Cattle markets finished was about $108 per cwt. For
through November, beef ex- 2021 on a much stronger note reference, there has been
ports were on a record vol- than in the past few years. only one month (May 2017)
ume pace at 1.32 million mt, Optimism for higher prices that topped $138 since mid-
up 16% from a year ago. Beef in 2022 has been building for 2015.
export value, which had al- months and market activity Cattle futures contract

continued on page 10 over the past few weeks has prices for 2022 traded on
only added to that optimism. CME reflect the optimism for
Using a simple average of higher prices. Live cattle fu-
QUESTIONS A PLENTY GOING FORWARD continued on page 15
By Kenny Burdine, Livestock Marketing Specialist, University of Kentucky
What is driving recent cember at several Ohio auc- Coming Sales-46
cash fed cattle higher prices tion markets.
at auction? What is the cat- Life is Simple-5
tle market going to look like Auction Price Dynamics Market Report-8
in 2022? Those have been As we know in agriculture, Agribusiness
common questions as of late, the law of supply and de- Directory-44
especially after record set- mand still has a great impact
ting fed cattle auction prices on commodity prices. Let’s
during the first week of De- continued on page 12