Cattle Market Guys Podcast - 2026-07-07

Packer losses have deepened to a staggering $295 per head as corn futures surge and boxed beef values soften — and that squeeze from both directions is putting hedging strategy front and center for cattle producers right now. Meanwhile, Brazil just raised its full-year trade surplus forecast to $90 billion, fueled by record beef exports that are eating into US market share. In this Tuesday market update, Brock and Jim break down the latest feeder cattle cash prices, including five to six weight steers holding steady near $457 per hundredweight and six-weight steers easing to $415.87. They dig into live cattle futures volatility tied to rising corn costs and softening cash trade, with Jim drawing on his 1996 experience with margin calls and over-hedged positions to explain why liquidity matters as much as price protection. The conversation then shifts to global beef trade, covering Brazil's record export surge, tightening antimicrobial inspection rules ahead of an EU deadline, and a political push to suspend proposed US tariffs tied to Brazil's October election. Domestic policy developments, including new tariff-rate quota legislation for imported beef, cattle, and lamb, round out the trade discussion. Finally, Brock and Jim examine the tightening US cattle supply picture, with total beef production projected down 4.5 to 5 percent year-over-year and cold storage reserves shrinking. Drawing parallels to the mid-1990s herd liquidation era, they explain why today's tight supply numbers may not fully hit cash prices for months, and why producers should be watching futures, trade, and production trends together rather than in isolation. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Hear the full episode → https://www.herdadvisor.com/cattle-ma... Get our FREE daily cattle market briefing: https://www.herdadvisor.com/email Cattle Market Guide - Know when and where to sell: https://www.herdadvisor.com/tryfree ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ #CattleMarketGuys #CattleMarketGuide #RanchLife #HerdAdvisor #CowCalf #RanchManagement #cattle #feedercattle #cattleindustry