Obtained some pricing from a person involved with livestock being brought in and sold at a stockyard in eastern Indiana.
Last week top grade cattle were getting $1.50/lb when brought in for sale. Just six years ago same person said going price was around .50/lb.
Stocking up on meat this winter would not be a bad idea.
Last year Indiana lawmakers relaxed some rules in allowing investors and alcohol makers open up distillery operations to make whiskey. Now some operations have popped up and the specialized business of the alcohol industry will have to wait and see how it all plays out financially.
Here is how the alcohol rules got relaxed
They pointed to states such as Michigan, where 32 small distillers sell local spirits and generate tourism dollars and tax revenue. Kentucky’s “Bourbon Trail” attracts 400,000 visitors to distilleries, which buy more than 2 million bushels of Indiana corn, each year.
The law that went into effect in July 2013 allows an artisan distiller to produce no more than 10,000 gallons of liquor for retail sale a year. The distiller cannot sell spirits to a retailer or a dealer but must sell by the drink, bottle or case on the premises.
Unlike big craft-spirit operations that buy liquor from wholesalers then flavor, bottle and label it as their own, the products of Indiana’s artisan distilleries must be homegrown. At least 60 percent of the final product must be fermented and distilled from raw materials on-site.
So far five permits have been granted and seven more are awaiting approval. The investors must also already have a federal permit for the process. Investments into the operations can run as high as $500,000.
The most important thing to remember of this new business venture for Indiana alcohol consumers, the bourbon and whiskey are still aging. Only when the first batches are tasted will indicate success of this new expansion.
Hat Tip Indiana Economic Digest
Hoosier Ag interviewed Dan Emmert, field agronomist with DuPont Pioneer and he reported the following:
Harvesting has begun and early yields look good. Emmert says several fields along the Ohio river have been harvested, “Only the guys who are comfortable harvesting corn at around 20% are willing to start this early.” He expects most growers in SW Indiana to begin to work fields in about 3 weeks.
The beef market supply is still low from the 2012 drought and supply numbers are still dipping which will only keep prices high for the foreseeble future. Here is the latest from the USDA.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, beef production came in at 2.09 billion lbs. That’s 9% down from last July. Slaughter totals are also trending down with 10% fewer cattle taken to the packer at 2.6 million head. However, live weights are moving up as feedlots and packers try to compensate for the loss of cattle. This July cattle averaged 1,320 lbs. when entering the processor, up 18 lbs. from last year. Overall red meat production was down 6% nationally. Only 3.91 billion lbs. of red meat was produced in this past month compared to 4.16 billion lbs. in July 2013.
From January to July of 2014 a similar drop off occurred with 3% less red meat produced at 27.4 billion lbs.
Indianapolis WTHR-TV reporter Matt McCutheon reported on his Twitter account today the Indiana State Fair will top over 900,000 in total attendance this year. This would put it in the Top 5 of attendance records for the fair.
Agricultural stocks have taken a beating just recently and one could speculate recent co mments/numbers0 could have this particular commodity market spooked.
The USDA just released numbers for Indiana and nationally on how yields will play out this fall for corn and soybeans. The plants them self are still in pollination stage, but each week gets us closer to the harvest. Here is what the USDA said via Hoosier Ag:
In Tuesday’s USDA report, corn production is forecast at 14.0 billion bushels. Yields are expected to average 167.4 bushels per acre, up 8.6 bushels from 2013. Soybean production is forecast at a record 3.82 billion bushels, up 16 percent from last year with yields expected to average a record high 45.4 bushels per acre. Indiana corn yields are forecast to be above the national average.
Indiana is forecast to set a new record high corn yield at 179 bpa with an estimated state production of 1.05 billion bushels, the second year in a row the Hoosier state has produced over a billion bushels of corn. Hoosier soybean yields are forecast to equal last year’s level at 51 bpa which will equal 279 million bushels of production. Winter wheat yield is estimated at 73 bushels per acre, even with last year’s record high. Winter wheat production is forecast at 26.3 million bushels.
With that data coming out, Purdue Ag Economist Chris Hurt says profit margins will be squeezed this year at the annual crop report analysis program at the State Fair.
“The revenues will be down sharply this year; crop farmers’ incomes could fall 25-30 percent.” Hurt predicts that corn and soybean prices will continue to move lower as we approach harvest, “This report will not give us new lows; but, if the September and October reports show an increase in corn yields, we could see new low prices.” Hurt said if the National average yield tops 170 bpa, corn prices could dip as low as $3.20 a bushel.
Shuan Casteel, Purdue soybean specialist and Extension agronomist Dr. Bob Nielsen were also in attendence at the State Fair panel. They stated crops were ahead five year averages and that the crops still have 30-45 days of yield potential despite the cool weather.
Per Associated Press:
One of the largest ranches in the U.S. and an icon for Texas horse and cattlemen has been listed for $725 million, marking the end of a decades-long courtroom battle among the heirs of cattle baron W.T. Waggoner, who established the estate in 1923.
The estate includes the 510,000-acre ranch spread over six North Texas counties, with two main compounds, hundreds of homes, about 20 cowboy camps, hundreds of quarter-horses, thousands of heads of cattle, 1,200 oil wells and 30,000 acres of cultivated land, according to Dallas-based broker Bernie Uechtritz, who is handling the sale along with broker Sam Middleton of Lubbock.
I did a little calculating on what a 30 Year Mortgage would be on this property if you put a $30 Million dollar downpayment on it and secured a loan for 4.25%. Your monthly payments would be just a shade over $3.4 Million a month.
While many midwest Americans have embraced the record breaking cool summer(Indiana coolest July since 1895) along with heavy rains, a lot of corn farmers are nervously awaiting the next sixty days in the pollination process of their corn harvest.
Early this month I blogged about Soybean/Corn numbers but more specifically this point
Heavy rains in the cornbelt in June(beginning of pollination) have mostly meant lower yields come harvest.
I even e-mailed an investor July 12th on the East Coast this point on the corn yields with all the rain and cool weather the area has received:
One corn follower said the very wet condition in the cornbelt occuring right when pollination takes off in June has always tilted towards lower yields in the last fifty years.
Now a few weeks later, Indiana Economic Digest published a story of farmers showing the wear of cool/wet weather affecting their corn crops. You can read the story here for full details but will quote some of it for quick reference.
Purdue University corn specialist Bob Nielsen said the cooler temperatures that delayed planting and have continued into the July growing season
“We just had way too much moisture here,” Sutton said. The result is variable heights in corn and depleted nitrogen. “The nitrogen deficiency causes the brown bottoms. … And, with less heat, the corn thinks it’s July 4th.” Sutton said a St. Louis, Missouri-based agronomist his family retained told them, “We have the worst crops in the nation.”
Lower yields than expected will ultimately drive up the price of corn. The pollination process of corn is a wait and see game. Last year ten days made the difference on record number corn/soybean harvest that developed in August. This year may prove a little later.
Per CNSNews.com
The price of beef and bacon hit its all-time high in the United States in June, according to data released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
In January 1980, when BLS started tracking the price of these commodities, ground chuck cost $1.82 per pound and bacon cost $1.45 per pound. By this June 2014, ground chuck cost $3.91 per pound and bacon cost $6.11 per pound.A decade ago, in June 2004, a pound of ground chuck cost $2.49, which means that the commodity has increased by 57 percent since then. Bacon has increased by 78.7 percent from the $3.42 it cost in June 2004 to the $6.11 it costs now.
Hoosier Econ 