Feed weekly outlook: Best not to wait to sell

MarketsFarm — As warmer winter temperatures are bound to happen, the sooner farmers can sell their feed grain the better, said Nelson Neumann, senior trader for Agfinity at Stony Plain, Alta.

“There’s still a lot of high-moisture feed grain that’s in storage and frozen,” he said, commenting “I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a lot of feed grain coming into the market in February.”

Barley prices jumped $5 per tonne, he noted, as frigid weather descended on feedlots.

“You do get less feed efficiency when the weather is cold. [The cattle] chew through a lot more and we have seen the prices reflect that,” he said.

For the most part, barley was at $230 per tonne going into feedlot alley at Lethbridge, although some was going for up to $235. Meanwhile, wheat was around $228 per tonne, he said.

“As far as I know, we haven’t seen much corn enter the market,” Neumann added.

He cautioned the current rally for barley and wheat is unlikely to continue for much longer, as the cold spell has broken with warmer temperatures on the way.

With trying crop conditions in Alberta and elsewhere on the Prairies in 2019, a problem has arisen: the mycotoxin risk, which could pose a problem for feedlots, according to Glacier FarmMedia.

Moulds and fungi can cause a variety of health issues in fed cattle, in particular from those crops that came off late.

Upwards to 10 different mycotoxins have been discovered in some samples and testing is recommended.

— Glen Hallick reports for MarketsFarm, a Glacier FarmMedia division specializing in grain and commodity market analysis and reporting. Includes files from Jennifer Blair of Alberta Farmer.