OMAHA (DTN) Lee Reichmuth, who runs a cattle feedyard near Lindsay, Nebraska, recalls a year ago seeing “records broken” in cattle markets, such as boxed beef price moving from a little more than $2 a pound to the range of $4.75 a pound while, at the same time, the April futures contract for fed cattle took a $40 dip in value.
A year ago, as much of the country was in lockdown, the supply chain for meat buckled as workers by the hundreds at packing plants across the country tested positive for COVID-19, causing both beef and pork packing plants to shut down across the Midwest and Plains. By the third week of April, the packing crisis had shredded as much as 25% of meat-processing capacity nationally.