What's New?
Cattle Market Analysis & Comments: In 2009, cattle and beef markets continued to suffer from the impacts of the worst domestic and international economic recession experienced in decades. Many of the same factors will affect cattle prices in 2010. Read about 2010 forecasts here.
Retained Ownership Webinar
There are still a lot of calves across the country that haven't left
ranches yet and this year the markets offer a good opportunity for
retained ownership of those calves. In this December 16, 2009 webinar,
Drs. Darrell Mark and Galen Erickson discuss the economic and management
decisions associated with retained ownership of those calves, and the
opportunities to place them in a commercial feedyard in Nebraska. View
the webinar here.
Margin requirements for hedging in the CME Group live cattle futures contract have increased in recent years. Learn whether it has led to an impact in hedging use in this Cornhusker Economics article.
Stay up-to-date on cattle markets by reading In the Cattle Markets
Co-Product Storage Are you interested in learning how to store wet ethanol co-products, and more importantly, how much it would cost? Visit the Ethanol Co-Products page to learn about the opportunities and methods for storage in a new publication called “Storage of Wet Co-Products.” Plus, download a new Excel spreadsheet called Co-Product STORE (Storage To Optimize Ration Expenses) to estimate your own costs to bagging or bunkering wet co-products.
Recent Master's Theses
- Becky Small "Profit Variability & Risk Management Analysis of Calf-Fed and Yearling Production Systems" (May 2009)
- Josie Waterbury "The Economic IMpact of Corn Co-Products in the Nebraska Beef Cattle Industry" (December 2008)
Additional Notes
There is debate on revising the ethanol blending limits. Read about the issue and implications for livestock producers in this LMIC Analysis & Comments paper.
Needing to learn more about the 2008 Farm Bill so you can make decisions about ACRE, SURE, and other programs? Be sure to visit UNL's Farm Bill website for educational videos, factsheets, and decision aids.
Country of Origin Labeling is mandatory as of October 1, 2008. Learn how COOL will affect your operation by studying the materials available here.
End of Day Futures Quotes
Ethanol Co-Product Utilization
Results of a survey of Nebraska cattle feeders reveal trends in pricing and
contracting wet and dry co-products from wet and dry mill ethanol plants.
Additionally, these feeders report information about which co-products are
most commonly fed, and their overall satisfication with the co-products.
Read EC858, "An Economic Overview of Ethanol Co-product Utilization in
Nebraska" for all the information.
Cattle CODE
The Cattle Co-product Optimizer Decision Evaluator is a spreadsheet tool to assist cattle feeders and nutritionists in calculating feeding margin changes resulting from feeding ethanol byproduct feeds. Cattle CODE can be used to compare the marginal benefits to feeding byproducts (e.g., improved cattle performance) with the extra costs that result from feeding byproducts (e.g., transportation and handling costs). Download Cattle CODE free of charge.
