high feed prices
Livestock producers have a major stake in the direction of commodity programs
(May 29, 2009) - With all of the challenges faced by the livestock sector over the last several years - bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or mad cow disease), export bans, E. coli and other food borne diseases, uncertainty over the implementation of animal identification and country of origin labeling - the last thing they needed was a 250 percent increase in the cost of the grains and oilseeds they use as feed ingredients coming at the same time as they faced a dramatic increase in fuel costs.
But that is what has happened over the last couple of years. At the same time as feed costs have increased, the prices received by producers for their animals have decreased. The US average price for cattle, all beef, was $90.80 per cwt. in September 2006 - when the price of crops began to increase - and by March 2009 the price had fallen to $78.50 per cwt., a 14 percent decrease. In that same time period, calves fell from $135 per cwt. to $104 per cwt. and hogs, all, fell from $48.90 per cwt. to 44.20.