All meat packing plants are still open, since a presidential order under the Defense Production Act declares them essential.
However, a market analyst says that the pandemic proves cattle producers and packers are not in the same business.
Corbitt Wall is a livestock market analyst in Texas. He tells the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network that the pandemic and the fire in Kansas last year really shed a light on the situation. He says that it has been devastating and it has shown how vulnerable cattle producers are and how narrow the outlet is for their product.
According to Wall, “For many years, I would say probably for 25 or 30 years, we tried to think we were in the same business, but I think as we went through these... “black swan events” and we saw how there was such a disparage in what they were making compared to what we were making and a totally different market set, that they’re in their business and we’re in ours and we kind of need to take care of ourselves.”
He says that one way to do that would be diversifying when calves are born. He is a proponent of more fall calves which would spread out when they end up hitting auction barns.
Related:
NCBA thanks President Trump for executive order keeping meat processing plants open
USDA to implement President Trump’s executive order on meat processors
Meat processors remain cautious over spike in COVID cases