CATTLE MARKETING

Find Freedom to Profit in the Cattle Business

Use The Freedom Hedge to Manage Risk, Achieve Profit

The enormous amount of money in play in the cattle business, means producers serve their profit purposes well when they institute hedges on their operation to manage market volatility, and to protect themselves from the broad uncertainty in today’s world of agriculture.

Manage Price Risk
The Freedom Hedge gives you as a cattle producer the ability to take the price risk you’re facing, and give it to someone else. Price risk causes income variability, and you need to manage risk to grow your cattle operation into the future, so you can provide beef for a world that needs more protein every single year.

With The Freedom Hedge from National Farmers, we’re promoting your progress as a cattle producer. We don’t want your cattle sales prices to surprise you, so the pros using The Freedom Hedge will help. To manage price risk, we coordinate the hedges for you, establishing a base price for your high-quality cattle. But we don’t stop there. You, the producer, are free from futures financing and margin calls. That’s right. That’s The Freedom Hedge.

The ways The Freedom Hedge helps you keep adding up. You’re an excellent producer, so you’re premiums aren’t capped. The better your cattle, the better your money. And you need the ability to deliver at the best beef processor possible, so you get to do that, too. Part of determining your delivery location is by watching basis levels, a major factor in your profitability.

You Get Freedom
Freedom from futures financing
Freedom from margin calls
Freedom from hedge coordination headaches
Freedom from a pre-set basis
Freedom to choose the packer paying the highest premiums
Freedom to protect your cattle enterprise and your future

With The Freedom Hedge, you essentially lock in your margins, so you can continue to feed cattle for years to come. As far as we can see, it’s the most flexible way to hedge cattle in the business. We’re focused on success for you, today’s American cattleman.

The Cattle Hedging Tool Basics
The Freedom Hedge is based on CME live cattle contracts, which are for 40,000 pounds. The number of head the contracts represent, of course, depends on the live market weight of cattle. For cattle marketed at 1,450 pounds, a futures contract would represent about 27 head.

CME Live Cattle Contract Months
Contracts are available for the months of
February April June
August October December

CME live cattle contracts expire the last business day of the contract month.

Your Cattle Operation Knowledge
As we help you with risk management on your cattle operation, we want to truly understand your business picture, so we can leverage all of our experience in your favor. That means our experienced marketing professionals will talk with you about your goals and intent for using The Freedom Hedge to establish cattle sales prices, and your volume participation level.

Your Operation and Plan with The Freedom Hedge
We’ll discuss —

1. Your breakeven level
2. Target price goals
3. Cashflow needs
4. Volume of cattle sales per month

We Represent You
The Freedom Hedge gives you a way to manage price risk in your cattle operation. It’s a tool to keep in your farm marketing toolbox, and assure you’re getting the best possible situation when it comes to your cattle sales.

Through our decades of experience in the cattle industry and farm marketing, we’ve developed positive relationships with processors that benefit you today. That’s why once a sale is complete, the service isn’t. We assure your payment arrives in a timely manner. And if you have questions about the hedging process or your cattle’s performance, we’ll follow up and look after your best interests.

We give you the whole package from risk management and cattle knowledge to service related to contracts and processors. Contact us today at or call 814-720-0549.

Reasons to Get Started
* Freedom from futures financing
* Freedom from covering margin calls
* Freedom to stand out in the cattle business

Harness the Pricing Power of Holstein Profit Plus

Holstein Profit Plus
As a Holstein beef producer, you know your livestock operation provides an important element in the beef supply chain. Holsteins make up 10 percent of the U.S. calf crop. And you want and deserve profit in your cattle operation. We can guide you along the highway to profit through market intelligence and risk management.

If you raise Holstein steers already, you know some things are different than native beef, and you know packers can specialize in one type of animal or the other. That’s another good reason to capitalize on the relationships we at National Farmers have with major processors. We open marketing doors for today’s Holstein beef producer at processors where your cattle are wanted.

With the calf-fed system, the Holstein feeding sector of the beef industry has moved to, carcass weights have become lighter, 1,200 lbs. to 1,400 lbs., and the cuts are similar in size to the rest of the industry. (Univ. of Kentucky) You have what beef eaters want. We tip our hats to producers responsive to consumer desires. Your cattle are valuable.

Holstein Strengths

1. Hide Value
2. Marketed for All Cuts of Beef
3. Predictable Feedlot Performance
4. Trim Value
5. Predictable Carcass Value
6. Impressive Growth in Young Steers
7. Calf Availability
8. Consistency of the Breed

Quality Holstein Beef
Packers know you produce quality — and grading evidence shows it.

“The positive relationship found to exist between Prime premium level and Holstein steer prices is supportive of statements by industry stakeholders that Holstein are at least as likely to grade Prime as native steers…. As the market reward for Prime carcasses increases, packers are paying more for Holstein steers.”
Understanding the Market for Holstein Steers
Kenneth H. Burdine, Leigh J. Maynard, A. Lee Meyer
University of Kentucky Department of Agricultural Economics

Marketing Holstein Steers
You can do a great job producing, but you’ve got to do a great job marketing, too, and make all that effort count.

What affects the Holstein market most?
Vertical Integration
Sensitivity to Traditional Market Factors

Basis
Basis on Holstein steers has been more volatile than that of native beef. Holstein basis is strongest in the spring and weakest during the winter — typically. So you may wonder, with greater basis volatility, is it possible to successfully hedge Holstein steers? Yes it is, but the lion’s share of our Holstein cattle finisher customers use packer contracts to get the best possible basis.

Your Marketing Choices
So, how exactly do we help you manage market risk? We offer risk management strategies for Holstein cattle finishers. And we help you understand what to expect out of any contract you use.

1. Hedges through CME futures Contracts
2. Processor Forward Contracts
3. Exchange-Traded Options

We know you choose quality feed, have full vaccination programs, see to proper ventilation in your buildings, and look at every animal, every day to assure the cattle receive the attention they need. You love the Holstein cattle business. And we want to see to it that you receive rewards for it. The kind of rewards you take to the bank.

We work with leading processors and those processors like working with us — and with our member producers. They can rely on a steady supply from all of our members together. And they can count on you for quality. You win for both reasons.

Don’t Give Her Away: Profit More

Turn Cull Cows into Cash Cows

Cull Cow Profits
Look around. What are you missing out on profit-wise with your herd? You might not be capitalizing on all the revenue opportunities of your cull cows. But National Farmers’ Cash Cow Plus program can help you turn that around.

For a dairy operation, monthly cull cow receipts amount to about 15 percent of its revenue. In a cow-calf enterprise, cull cow receipts generally account for 15 to 30 percent of cash receipts. That means as a producer, it’s worth your time to pay attention to culling, and as your cull cow marketer, we’ll help you with our Cash Cow Plus program.

Reasons to Cull that Cow
Let’s think about why it’s time to say goodbye to that sweet girl.

Why Dairy Producers Cull Cows – U.S. Dairy Operations

Reason to Cull Percent of Culled Dairy Cows Annually
Mastitis/Other Disease 31%
Reproduction 27%
Poor Milk Production 22%
Lameness/Motility 15%
29% – 38% of the 9 million cow national herd is culled annually.

Source: Bovine Veterinarian

About Your Cows, Pricing and Seasonality
Reasons to cull go beyond production and health. And these reasons come down to revenue, with your cows and timing working together to make the most money for you as a dairy producer or cattleman.

Cull cow prices are based on USDA carcass grades, or what they’re expected to achieve during USDA grading. And National Farmers’ Cash Cow Plus marketing professionals know how to get the best prices possible for the cows you’re sending off your farm.

Keep in mind, USDA grades correspond with market classes and body condition scores. So your cull cow’s performance at grading time can make a big difference to your bottom line. Cull cow prices tend to decline through the fall to January, and tend to increase once spring sets in through summer.

Sometimes feeding a cull cow to a desirable weight (but not too much weight) pays off. At other times, feeding costs make this prohibitive. At Cash Cow Plus, our seasoned marketers will help you discover the best approach.

Revenue Reasons to Cull at Specific Times

1. Seasonality of cull cow prices
2. Price differences between slaughter grades and number of cows in each grade
3. Cost of feeding cull cows

Because price differences between market classes can change from year to year and monthly, you have some questions to ask yourself.

What are the costs to feed out the cows you’ve selected to cull?
How much weight should the cows gain?
Is it worth it to feed a cow you want to cull a little longer so you can move her body condition score a little bit higher?

The pros with Cash Cow Plus like numbers, know the grading rules and understand seasonality. And we’d like to help you run a budget to see what the best cull cow marketing plan is for your operation and your needs. But there’s another question to consider.

Do you know all the processors’ cow type preferences?

Because we work in the cattle markets and cow markets every day throughout the Midwest, we understand how each processor operates. We know what they want, and we know what processors reward, because of what works well with their equipment and facilities. With Cash Cow Plus, we consider all the factors, and negotiate to place your cull cows at the right time, in the right place to earn you more cash.

Isn’t that exactly what you want and need? A well-qualified representative making sure your cull cow receipts mean more money for you. That’s what you gain with Cash Cow Plus. Contact us right now to take your cull cow marketing to a new level. We’re glad to partner with you today with Cash Cow Plus.

FeederConnect – The Trusted Way to Buy and Sell Feeder Cattle

Profit in Cattle Feeding Starts with Quality Livestock

Growing in the cattle business requires a source of top-notch livestock. At National Farmers, we know cattle, and we know quality producers. Our veteran cattle pros will help you find what you want for your livestock operation using our FeederConnect program, and if you have feeder cattle to sell, we’ll help you find a buyer.

With our network of solid relationships in the cattle business, we’ll connect you to someone to buy your feeder cattle. If you’re on the other side of the feeder cattle equation, we’ll match you to a seller of quality feeder cattle where you can source livestock with confidence.

We work with a range of cattle producer types, and can help you find feeders meeting the specifications you want.

• Holsteins
• Native breeds
• Range of weights

When it comes to recommending cattle to producers, you’ll be glad to know, we have standards.

• Proper pre-conditioning programs
• Full vaccination programs

We also know USDA’s feeder cattle grading system inside and out, and use that as a guideline, as we project cattle performance and connect feeder cattle buyers to feeder cattle sellers. With FeederConnect, both cattle operations reap the benefits of a good sale.

If you do business close to Manchester, Iowa, Nexus Marketing conducts a Feeder Cattle auction on the third Friday of each month, September through April yearly. Call for more information: 563-927-2540.

Cattlemen, contact us today for assistance, and give us all the details of what you need. Call Pat Lampert at 877-206-1051 Jeff Rose at 866-455-6553 right away.

National Farmers Manchester, Iowa
Livestock Marketing Center

1624 220th Street
Just Northeast of Highway 13 & 20
www.nfolivestockmanchester.com

For Information About Our Cash and Risk Management Marketing Programs
Austin Lueck — 563.543.8386
Nathan Wessels — 563.542.0355

To Consign Cattle For Our Feeder Cattle Sales Event
Occurring Every Third Friday of the month, October through April
David Waterhouse — 563.920.2082
Reece Samuelson — 563.500.7475

To view the Early Listings, visit the NFO Livestock Manchester Auction Website at the link below!
www.nfolivestockmanchester.com