Beef cattle prices continue to be at historically high levels.

Participants: Gary Crawford and USDA livestock analyst, Mike McConnell

Transcript

USDA's latest cattle on feed report has February placements of cattle into feed lots at record historic levels.

Prices for feeder cattle are also very strong.

They're also at historic levels.

USDA livestock analyst Mike McConnell says during February at Oklahoma City prices for 750 to 800 pound cattle averaging $241 a hundredweight.

It was only 184 during February last year.

So obviously...

There's a lot of opportunity for cow-calf operators to market their feeder cattle and get a good return on those animals that they're taking off pasture or winter wheat pasture and placing them into feed lots.

Now there's good returns for it.

There's also still relatively robust demand for beef in the country.

Now with the summer grilling season fast approaching, the big question is will consumer demand go down as beef prices go higher?

Gary Crawford for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.