Numlock News: March 23, 2022 • Monkeys, Xiaomi, Chelsea
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By Walt Hickey Please excuse any formatting issues reading Numlock in your inbox; it’s an issue with the email provider and we’re getting that fixed. Cattle From 2015 to 2016, the price that ranchers got for beef cattle fell 32 percent, and it hasn’t recovered since. The beef processors — who buy cattle from ranchers and sell beef to distributors — have been accumulating more and more of every dollar spent on beef, with just four companies controlling 85 percent of the market. They’re doing just fine: Tyson beef operating income doubled in 2021, JBS’s business was up 28 percent in the first nine months of last year, and Cargill’s sales were up 17 percent. But for the ranchers, business is bad. It cost $1,230.54 to buy a 750-pound calf in August of 2021, then $415.86 to feed it and $158.17 in non-feed costs to turn it into a 1,300-pound steer in January of 2022. Unfortunately, that steer would sell for an average $1,796.21, meaning that on balance
Numlock News: March 23, 2022 • Monkeys, Xiaomi, Chelsea
Numlock News: March 23, 2022 • Monkeys…
Numlock News: March 23, 2022 • Monkeys, Xiaomi, Chelsea
By Walt Hickey Please excuse any formatting issues reading Numlock in your inbox; it’s an issue with the email provider and we’re getting that fixed. Cattle From 2015 to 2016, the price that ranchers got for beef cattle fell 32 percent, and it hasn’t recovered since. The beef processors — who buy cattle from ranchers and sell beef to distributors — have been accumulating more and more of every dollar spent on beef, with just four companies controlling 85 percent of the market. They’re doing just fine: Tyson beef operating income doubled in 2021, JBS’s business was up 28 percent in the first nine months of last year, and Cargill’s sales were up 17 percent. But for the ranchers, business is bad. It cost $1,230.54 to buy a 750-pound calf in August of 2021, then $415.86 to feed it and $158.17 in non-feed costs to turn it into a 1,300-pound steer in January of 2022. Unfortunately, that steer would sell for an average $1,796.21, meaning that on balance