Episode Details

BEEF Last week’s beef harvest was 484K head, seems like a holiday shortened week but it was not. Prior week was 529K head; this is keeping inventories tight.  The pattern we’ve seen the last few weeks continues. Middle meats, led by ribeyes, are moving higher still. We are already higher on middle meats than last year’s holiday season, I wonder how high they can push this market as we head to the holiday season. Chucks moving higher with the middle meats, while pretty much the rest of the beef complex continues to decline. Rounds, briskets, flank, all moving lower. I’m staying with my recommendation, stay ahead of your needs and take those declines when you can. 

POULTRY Still not much movement in chicken pricing. A penny here and there, but nothing makes me think this market will be moving higher. Chicken production continues strong; demand is not really keeping up. I do expect with beef pricing so high we will see increased demand for chicken, but I don’t see it moving the market higher. Avian flu for the last week sees two new cases affecting 100K birds, mostly turkeys and ducks. 

GRAINS USDA's quarterly report last week was a shocker, maybe a bit of sandbagging going on to push prices higher as the quarterly report showed over two billion bushels of corn on hand – about 35 more than last year. Corn has declined this week, closing today at $5.00 down from last week $5.30. With new crop in harvest, I’m not thinking anything will push this market higher. Soy and wheat retreated a bit, nowhere near as much as corn and the August rally in grains is turning into an October slide. 

PORK Pork bellies are up from last week, today's close $93.43 – last week we were at $86.91. Anytime bellies are under $100 I take that as a buy. We may see a minor rally over the next couple weeks, but bellies will continue to be a good value; this is the time of year to see these lower markets. Butts, loins, ribs, all steady to down a few cents, pork still a great value in protein. 

DAIRY Interesting week in dairy as the block continues to decline down six today.  Markets this low are not healthy for the producers, but I don’t see anything to push this market higher. Butter closed today down another two while the barrel is steady to last week. Butter is already lower than all of 2025 so another good year for baking. This is a good buyer's market now and I would expect for at least the next few weeks. 

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