Feedlot operators across South Dakota have been under tremendous stress as recent high temperatures have taken a toll on cattle. Keeping cattle cool and comfortable has become a major challenge, and despite producers’ best efforts, death losses continue to mount. Warren Rusche, Extension feedlot specialist with South Dakota State University, says anecdotal reports indicate more than 2,000 head of cattle were lost during the weekend of July 25-26. Feedlots in central South Dakota—from Winner to Kimball and Chamberlain—appear to have been hit the hardest, although a feedlot near Brookings also reported losses. “Unfortunately, when you start multiplying that by...

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  On July 29 U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins visited the livestock inspection facilities at the Douglas, Arizona, Port of Entry, joined by Rep. Juan Ciscomani (AZ-06), Rep. Andy Biggs (AZ-05), Rep. Eli Crane (AZ-02), and Arizona Director of Agriculture Paul Brierley, highlighting the Department’s extensive preparedness measures ahead of the planned reopening of the port to livestock trade on August 24. During her visit, Secretary Rollins also announced USDA’s commitment to invest million toward the opening of a new sterile fly dispersal facility in Arizona to strengthen the nation’s long-term response to New World screwworm (NWS)....

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Daniel Wayne Dockter, 44, of Colfax, North Dakota, was ordered to surrender to jail by noon today (July 31) following his sentencing in Southeast District Court in Richland County yesterday for the theft of more than 130 head of cattle. Dockter pleaded guilty July 30 to four counts – two Class A felonies for theft over ,000 and two Class A misdemeanors for the unlawful transport of livestock from the state. Dockter received a 10-year sentence, with eight years suspended. He will serve two years before being placed on three years of supervised probation. He was also ordered to pay...

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  Two key USDA cattle reports published on Friday, July 24 pointed to only limited growth in the beef replacement herd for this calendar year. The biannual Cattle inventory report for July found all cattle and calves rose only 200,000 to 94.2 million, or up 0.21%. The overall cowherd remained flat at 38.1 million. The beef cow herd was smaller, down 200,000 or 1% at 28.5 million. This was balanced by a rise in the milk cow numbers of 200,000 or 2%, to 9.65 million. The dairy herd runs on a different cycle from the beef herd and has been...

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Codi Vallery-Mills Cattle Business Weekly The USDA Animal Plant Health and Inspection Service announced it will begin to accept live cattle imports from Mexico through its Douglas, Arizona, port on Aug. 24. The news came as a surprise to many, as USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins has kept the border closed in an attempt to stop New World Screwworm from spreading into the United States. USDA reports the Arizona port is adjacent to Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico, which have maintained a strong animal health infrastructure program. “While the rest of Mexico has not been able to stop the spread of the...

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Internationally respected cattle judge and educator Kirk Stierwalt, owner of Stierwalt Cattle and Clinics, has been selected to judge at the prestigious Melbourne Royal Show in Melbourne, Australia, held September 24–October 4, 2026. As part of this prestigious invitation, Stierwalt will evaluate the 2026 BioWorma Youth Heifer Feature Show and Showmanship, one of the Melbourne Royal Show’s premier youth cattle events. The Melbourne Royal Show is one of Australia’s oldest and most respected agricultural exhibitions, attracting the nation’s finest cattle breeders and exhibitors while celebrating excellence in livestock, agriculture, and rural communities. An invitation to judge at Melbourne Royal is...

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  Fed cattle carcass weights appear to have bottomed seasonally and are beginning to move higher, according to the CattleFax Closing Bell update released July 17. Weekly USDA slaughter data showed steer carcass weights increased 2 pounds to 963 pounds, while heifer weights rose 1 pound to 880 pounds. Overall fed cattle weights averaged 934 pounds, up 3 pounds from the previous week and roughly 30 pounds heavier than a year ago. Although one week doesn’t establish a trend, CattleFax says seasonal patterns, sales-implied forecasts, and closeout data all suggest carcass weights will continue climbing through the second half of...

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  Farmland pressure is often discussed as a national acreage-loss problem, but for farmers and ranchers the more immediate challenge is land access. Land can remain technically “agricultural” while becoming harder to rent, buy or keep in production. At the same time, acres converted to development, energy infrastructure or other built uses often do not return to farmland or ranchland. The U.S. is not facing a sudden farmland cliff, but agricultural land is being reshaped by two concurrent forces: physical land-use change and ownership transition. Some acres are shifting among cropland, pasture and the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), while others...

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  Farmland pressure is often discussed as a national acreage-loss problem, but for farmers and ranchers the more immediate challenge is land access. Land can remain technically “agricultural” while becoming harder to rent, buy or keep in production. At the same time, acres converted to development, energy infrastructure or other built uses often do not return to farmland or ranchland. The U.S. is not facing a sudden farmland cliff, but agricultural land is being reshaped by two concurrent forces: physical land-use change and ownership transition. Some acres are shifting among cropland, pasture and the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), while others...

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A new report from Purdue University’s Center for Commercial Agriculture examines the economics of cattle finishing, finding that despite historically strong fed cattle prices, profitability is being squeezed by expensive feeder cattle and elevated breakeven costs. The report notes that cattle finishing remains a narrow-margin business, with profits depending largely on the relationship between feeder cattle prices, fed cattle prices, and feed costs rather than any single factor. Feed costs remain elevated Feeding cost of gain has stayed above 0 per hundredweight since mid-2021. In 2026, costs have ranged from 1 to 4 per hundredweight and are expected to remain...

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