# Tight margins for most of the beef industry - Brownfield Ag News

> USDA livestock economist Shayle Shagam says packers are mostly profitable while feedlots likely face negative margins. Feeder calf prices are down about $2 per hundredweight from a year earlier, leaving cow-calf operators near breakeven. Drought has left Southern Plains hay supplies very short.

- Date: 2018-07-24 · published 2018-07-24T12:00:00.000Z
- Category: market · region US · magnitude low
- Page: https://feedsoft.ai/events/64175-tight-margins-for-most-of-the-beef-industry-brownfield-ag-news
- Commodities: [Feeder Cattle](https://feedsoft.ai/c/FCATTLE.md), [Live Cattle](https://feedsoft.ai/c/LCATTLE.md)

## Why it matters

Thin feedlot and cow-calf margins and short hay supplies will shape whether the herd expands or liquidates, which drives future feeder cattle supply and feed demand.

## Read by commodity

- FCATTLE: bearish ▼
- LCATTLE: neutral

## Sources

- brownfieldagnews.com: https://brownfieldagnews.com/news/tight-margins-for-most-of-the-beef-industry/

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Data from Feedsoft AI (https://feedsoft.ai/). For information only; not investment advice.