Cattle Market Guys - Week Wrap Up 7-31-2026

Cattle futures just snapped a brutal 15-day losing streak, feeder cattle prices are sliding fast on lighter weights, and the US-Mexico border is finally set to reopen for cattle trade after screwworm shutdowns. This week's Cattle Market Guys breaks down whether the worst is over—or just beginning. Brock and Jim dive into a volatile week for the cattle market, starting with feeder cattle cash prices that dropped sharply across multiple weight classes, though prediction models point to a rebound in the coming weeks. They unpack USDA's phased reopening of the Douglas, Arizona and Santa Teresa ports of entry, backed by a $25 million investment in sterile fly dispersal to combat screwworm, with Jim drawing on his firsthand experience from the 1987 border shutdown to explain what producers can expect this time around. The conversation then turns to the wild swings in live cattle and feeder cattle futures, including a four-month low followed by a sharp short-covering rally, with Jim recalling a similar trainwreck-turned-recovery from 1996. Finally, Brock and Jim break down a stack of fresh USDA reports—Cattle Inventory, Cattle on Feed, Red Meat Production, and Cold Storage—revealing a supply picture that's tighter than headline numbers suggest, with shrinking beef inventories and declining production even as cattle on feed ticks up. Whether you're marketing calves, watching the border, or trying to make sense of feedlot data, this episode delivers the numbers and the perspective to navigate a fast-moving cattle market.