A Pine Island beef producer recently took to the Facebook group Farm Direct Minnesota to let folks know that if you are on the fence with purchasing beef, whether it's a 1/4, 1/2, or whole cow, now would be the time to do it, as according to his research into the subject, beef prices will begin to rise in the near future.

Zach Knutson of Knutson Shothorns in Pine Island penned the post originally on his farm page, and then shared it over on the Farm Direct Minnesota page as an educational tool for those wondering about when would be the best time to buy beef. Zach's answer was don't wait too much longer.

Zach's post features real numbers seen on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange that reflects the performance of the price of beef futures, as well as one of the staples that people use to feed their beef cattle the price of corn.

"Over the past few weeks, the price of cattle going to slaughter (referred to as "Live Cattle") has been increasing rather rapidly. Last Friday (Jan 29), the price of butcher cattle going to market in April and June 2021 reached the highest point since nearly the start of the pandemic (see the "Live Cattle" graph).
This is primarily because the cost of feed going to those cattle has been skyrocketing (see the "Corn" graph). These feed prices have been increasing due to the severe weather events (Derecho and drought) in Iowa this past summer, as well as the drought in South America going on right now (they produce a lot of corn for the rest of the world, so if they don't have corn then other countries have to buy US corn).
These higher feed prices drive up the cost of producing beef, and therefore drives up the retail price (although not even close to proportionately, so beef producers are probably in for some rough times).
While the main crop affected is corn, the price of corn has a ripple effect even on 100% grass-based producers. Higher corn prices means more land will be taken out of hay/grass in order to grow corn. From there, it's basic supply/demand increasing the price of hay."

You can see the full post below.

If you enjoy eating beef, this will hopefully be a worthwhile read--I promise it's NOT political at all. The hamburgers...

Posted by Knutson Shorthorns on Tuesday, February 2, 2021

So as it was pointed out in the post, maybe now is the time to make that purchase, rather than risking the wait and potentially seeing the prediction of higher beef prices come true.

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