Thank you again to Bull Tackle Feed in Lexington Nebraska for being our new sponsor of the weekly sheep and goat market report. Check out their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/bulltackle/
For the week ending September 11th the Midwest sheep and goat market was noted as steady to higher in all sales noted in this report. Lambs and cull sheep seemed to have the strongest demand noted in all sales. Meanwhile kids and cull goats were noted as more moderate demand. Hamilton Commission Company in Texas had several long strings of replacement commercial nannies on Labor day Monday. That sale seemed to have good demand showing that with good forage and a strong market ranchers are willing to invest and expand herds. Grain prices slumping this week did not seem to hurt the market either as feeders were a little more free to buy livestock with lower input costs. Looking at other markets though cattle continue to struggle and hogs this week dropped dramatically. This comes as the carcass cutouts paid to packers continues to dwindle for both beef and pork. USDA in the WASDE report on Friday also noted that they expect beef and pork production to decrease over the last part of 2021 with slower processing speeds. USDA does not note an exact reason as to the lower processing, but it could be labor and meat demand related. So in relation if sheep and goat prices can stay firm while other livestock prices erode that shows a pretty strong market overall. It may also attract more to the market and continue to garner premiums for breeding livestock. In the long run that could eventually lead to an oversupplied market, but that would be years in the future and nothing to be concerned with currently.
As we get closer to the official start of fall the late summer slump may be trying to wind down as demand typically starts to pick back up in the fall and move higher out through the winter towards Easter. In terms of ethnic holidays Rosh Hashanah is behind us and it appears there are no major holidays until the Prophet’s Birthday October 18th and 19th.
On the retail side USDA data shows last week the lamb cuts retail activity index decreased by 46.54% this week. The roasts decreased by 4.08% while chops decreased by 56.94%. Shoulder Blade Chops, Rack, Butterflied Boneless Leg and Shank were the most widely featured items among the Lamb features as prices were mixed. Labor day is often considered the last grilling holiday of summer and it appears that beef and pork continue to dominate the market. Last week ground lamb was a strong feature so there is still hope that lamb burgers are catching more popularity. This week though more traditional cuts were the top features.
Other commodity markets were under pressure this week. That is a good note for livestock feeders. The WASDE report on Friday did little to change the overall direction of the grain trade as it adjusted corn and soybean harvest size to the upside. Globally speaking though stocks are still fairly tight and likely to give price support before too long with the recent premium taken from the market.
Other feed input markets to report include the hay market. Kansas and Nebraska hay markets reported steady prices and demand this week. Grinding hay demand has slowed down with silage becoming more readily available. Northern ranchers continue to inquire about hay and some are buying. Hay prices are expected to rise through the fall and winter as forage continues to be short in many areas. That will have ranchers looking for ways to try and reduce feed expenses. With timely rains some areas later alfalfa cuttings look to be back while other areas are wondering if their hay cutting is done for the season.
For the week ending 9/10 lamb slaughter under federal inspection was estimated at 23,000 head on Friday. There was no Monday slaughter with many plants giving the holiday to employees. There is an expected Saturday slaughter of 1,000 head. That will bring the total weekly slaughter to 24,000 head. That’s 6,000 head less than the previous week and 9,000 head less than the previous year. Year to date lamb slaughter is at 1,309,000 head. About -1.4% or 18,000 head less than a year ago. Cattle slaughter continues to keep pace ahead of the previous year at 3.5%. Hog slaughter continues to slide behind 2020 now -1.7% behind. USDA data for goat slaughter this week was 9,885 head on Friday afternoon. Lamb and mutton production under federal inspection through 9/10 is estimated at 1.4 million pounds. That is down 400,000 pounds from the previous week. Year to date lamb and mutton production is estimated at 83.8 million pounds. Production continues to drop behind 2020 for the third month now by 4.8% or about 3.2 million pounds. The average live lamb weight for the week ending 9/10 was 119 pounds, up 1 pound from the previous week and down 4 pounds from last year. Dressed weights for lambs this week were 60 pounds. That is 1 pound increase from the previous week and 3 pounds lighter than a year ago.
Sale reports from the week
Here is a regional price range from all sales in the report. For a look at an individual sale follow the links to that sale.
Wool lambs
40-70 lbs $200-$275/cwt
70 lbs & up $160-$270/cwt
Hair lambs
40-70 lbs $230-$310/cwt
70 lbs and up $200-$315/cwt
Wool ewes
Slaughter $150-$160/cwt
Replacement N/A
Wool bucks
$125-$140/cwt
Hair Ewes
Slaughter $150-$275/cwt
Replacement $125-$300/hd
Kid Goats
20-40 lbs $280-$380/cwt
40-70 lbs $240-$355/cwt
Wethers 60-75lbs $265-$285/cwt
Does
Slaughter medium-fleshy $140-$195/cwt
Replacement $165-$210/HD
Bucks
Slaughter $157.50-$225/cwt
Breeding $210-$250/hd
Links to individual sales
https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/ams_1899.pdf
https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/ams_2153.pdf
https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/ams_2016.pdf
https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/ams_2014.pdf
http://www.hamiltoncommissioncompany.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/9.6.21-sg-sale.pdf
