Search our entire resource library

You're viewing a specific archive. Looking for something and want to search by keyword or just take a general look at ALL our resources? Click Search below!

Livestock

Pork Industry Continues to Adjust from PED

The pork industry continues to adjust from the supply shock created by the PED virus last year. Live prices peaked in the summer of 2014 as PED losses mounted and then fell into the late winter of 2015.

Read More

Beef Industry Traveling to a Different Drummer This Year

The beef industry stands alone in 2015 in its continued reduction in supplies available to consumers. The year of 2014 was a special year for the animal production industries with record high farm level prices for cattle, hogs, broilers, turkeys, milk and eggs.

Read More

More Hogs than Expected, Mystery Continues

More hogs than expected was the theme of the pork market in the first quarter of 2015. The USDA March Hogs and Pigs report did little to help explain why hog numbers were high, other than to simply admit that hog inventory counts from previous surveys were too low.

Read More

Changing Business Climate for Agriculture and the Outlook for 2015​​​​

Recorded December 5, 2014 | The panelists outline drivers of this changing business climate and discuss strategies farms can put in place to help manage the downturn in crop agriculture and the upswing in animal agriculture.

Read More

Mini-Boom Ahead for the Livestock Industry

The U.S. livestock industry has entered a new era of much higher product prices, lower costs of production, and favorable margins for producers and their input suppliers. This new era is a reversal of what took place starting in about 2007 through mid-2013 when margins were often negative, producer balance sheets were eroding, and lenders anxiety about the health of their livestock accounts was growing continuously.

Read More

Farm Building Rental Rate Survey

Farm buildings and livestock facilities often outlast their owner’s need for them, but can still provide usable service. Farm operators and livestock producers may be able to make use of certain types of farm buildings but are not in a position to invest in new facilities.

Read More

Livestock Disaster Programs

This article briefly discusses the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP), the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP), and the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Related Fish (ELAP) disaster programs. The discussion will focus on the provisions of the disaster programs that are most applicable to farmers in the Midwest.

Read More

Determining a Value for Corn Silage

Pricing silage crops can be much more challenging than pricing grains, since they are not sold as routinely and, therefore, do not have a readily known market price. The following is a brief discussion of some methods for determining prices for various types of silage.

Read More

Rental Agreements for Farm Buildings and Livestock Facilities

Farm buildings and livestock facilities often outlast their owner’s need for them, but are still usable. Other operators want the services of certain types of farm buildings but are not in a position to invest in new facilities. Both parties can benefit by developing a lease arrangement.

Read More

Beef Cow Rental Arrangements for Your Farm

Managing risk is required for many farm enterprises to be profitable and sustainable. Leasing assets, rather than purchasing them, is a form of risk management as it typically requires less capital. Leasing or sharing arrangements between farm operators and property owners have long been used to acquire control of land.

Read More