Grains & Livestock Monitor

Data status

Daily recap

At a glance

Written from this page's own data at each build: what changed and what's next.

Report calendar

USDA, CFTC and EIA releases for the next few weeks, in US Eastern time. Countdowns are live. Yellow = reports that regularly move prices.

Fund positioning

Managed money (CFTC disaggregated report, futures only). 5Y %ile places this week's net position in its own last five years: high = funds unusually long, low = unusually short. Extremes flag crowded trades, not timing: a crowded side can stay crowded. Click a row to chart it.

contracts, net long (+) / short (−)

Livestock

USDA estimated federally inspected slaughter, the daily read on how fast packers are running. Slaughter running below last year means tighter supply.

Coming next: cash cattle, boxed beef, pork cutout, hog prices

5-area fed steer, Choice/Select cutout, pork cutout and primals, national negotiated hogs, all from USDA Livestock Mandatory Reporting. Waiting on network access to USDA's report server.

Cash grain basis

USDA's daily state grain bid reports, averaged over each state's country-elevator regions (the export report for the PNW, the barge report for river terminals). Basis is cents over or under the futures month shown. Firming basis while futures are flat = end users bidding for grain. Click a state for its regions and delivery points.

Crop and feedlot weather

Each region is the average of a few representative points (hover a card title for them). Rain as % of the 2010–2024 normal, temperature as °F above or below normal. "Next 7 / 8–16 days" is the Open-Meteo model blend; skill drops sharply after day 7. Regions in their price-sensitive season come first.

NOAA outlooks (U.S.)

Drought & ENSO

U.S. Drought Monitor (weekly, valid Tuesday, out Thursday): share of area in moderate drought or worse (D1+), with changes. ENSO from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center. El Niño tends to favor southern Brazil and Argentina and stress northern Brazil; La Niña the reverse.