Big Four Heat & Bean Rally — Friggin' Farm & Ranch Report (5/5–5/6/26)

Studio blew up on me yesterday, so today's Friggin' Farm & Ranch Report is a two-day catch-up for May 5–6. We put the Big Four packer antitrust story right up front, then walk the board, the barn, inputs, drought, and DC without making you bounce your head off the wall. We talk packer leverage, what a real DOJ case would mean for cow-calf outfits and feedyards, and why nothing has "fixed" cash trade yet. Then we go through two days of tape: June live cattle taking a hard hit Tuesday and a small bounce Wednesday, August feeders doing the same, lean hogs holding the front month in the low-90s with June around a buck, and soybeans leading the way both days while corn keeps your ration costs tight. On the cash side, we use Lone Star Stockyards' Texas Angus Association feeder sale as the lead steer — 980 head, about 85% feeders, steers and heifers mostly $2–$6 higher — and lay that alongside March Cattle on Feed and a $460 sale-barn average. On the input side, diesel stays camped around $5.64 EIA and $5.659 AAA with AAA gas about $4.48, and corn isn't giving anybody a real break either. We wrap with APHIS' brucellosis zone expansion, ag bills sitting in committee, and Southeast drought chewing up grass and forcing some ugly decisions. No fake certainty, no Wall Street voice — just cattle, feed, diesel, and policy in plain ranch language. Sponsor: Lone Star Stockyards, Wildorado, TX — Tuesday sale every week at 11 AM Central. lonestarstockyards.com. Move your ass — we're burnin' daylight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices