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Message: <blockquote data-quote="NDbowman" data-source="post: 473109" data-attributes="member: 1525">You hit it right on the head. They are closing that plant and reducing slaughter to drive up the prices of boxed beef. All summer the packers would reduce slaughter whenever they claimed they were losing money. They did this to drive up the price of boxed beef to put themselves back in the money. Right now the feeder cattle futures have dropped $75 in a little over a month, mostly due to fear from Trump saying he is going to take Argentina beef, reopen the mexican border to live cattle imports, and now lowering the tariff against Brazil to allow them to bring in more beef. The news of the Tyson plant closing brought limit down lows to the feeder calf futures and a sharp dip in the live cattle futures. Trumps plan was to lower the price of beef for the consumer. That is all backfiring as ranchers and feedlots are the ones that have to take less for their product while the packers continue to drive up the price of boxed beef so they make a profit. The price of boxed beef determines what you as the consumer pays at the grocery store and restaurants. As a rancher the cash price at the sale barns have softened up some due to the drop in futures price but it hasn't been as hard. We'll still make good money but it is frustrating that they have to drop our prices right now before we all sell this years calves.</blockquote>