The impacts of the 2012 drought continue to play out in a
beef industry discouraged by high feed prices and large cattle feeding losses.
In the latest Cattle On Feed report, the USDA confirmed that placements
into feed lots dropped sharply in September following substantial declines in
July and August. As a result, on-feed numbers are now down nearly three percent
as the beef industry is doing its part to reduce corn and other feed usage.
Drought has been particularly cruel to the beef cattle
industry. A multiple year drought in the Southern Plains has been followed by a
devastating Midwestern drought in 2012 that is now forecast to continue into
2013. Brood cows remain the last major livestock industry that is land
extensive. So, when dryness causes wide stretches of land to be unable to
support cow grazing, producers have to buy feed or send the cows to town. <Read More>
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