Packer Hooks, BLM Paperwork, and a Helicopter Down — Friggin’ Farm & Ranch Report June 10, 2026

Well howdy there, daylight burners. This is the Friggin’ Farm & Ranch Report for Wednesday, June 10. All the numbers are from yesterday’s close, because I’m not a breaking‑news guy – I want time to see what the hell we’ve actually got going on. We start on the board and in the barn. Live and feeder cattle were up – August live at 252.50, October at 248.25, feeders up 2–3 bucks across the board – while lean hogs kept bleeding lower around 97.20. Cash cattle are still stout with the 5‑area live in the mid‑250s and dressed over 404, and the sale barns say light calves are gold: 550‑pounders ringing up in the mid‑400s to high‑400s while 8–9 weights are stuck down in the low‑ to mid‑300s. Weight is discounting, lightness is paying, and the better‑managed, tighter pens are still dragging top dollar. On the grain side, July corn’s around 4.20¾, wheat trying to bounce off multi‑year lows, and beans sagging sideways while everyone stares at South America and U.S. weather. Corn is cheap by recent history, but USDA’s balance sheet still screams ‘ample supplies.’ Then we lay that next to energy: Brent in the mid‑90s and national diesel still north of five bucks – AAA and EIA have diesel just over that 5‑dollar mark even after a little pullback. Feed looks manageable on paper, but every gallon of diesel and every pound of fertilizer is still trying to crawl up your back. Then we move to the war reel. A U.S. Army AH‑64 Apache went down near the Strait of Hormuz, off Oman. Both crew members were pulled out and are reported safe, but Trump says Iran shot it down with a Shahed drone and that the U.S. ‘must respond,’ and CENTCOM already answered with strikes inside Iran. For the first time, we had a drone knock down a helicopter and another drone boat help drag the crew out of the water. This isn’t just war porn – it’s the risk premium baked into every barrel that has to squeeze through that chokepoint, and that’s why your diesel and fertilizer don’t come back to earth as fast as the chart says they should. Back home, we hit the New World screwworm update. USDA APHIS first confirmed a 3‑week‑old calf in Zavala County, then a second calf in Zavala, a calf in La Salle County, and a dog out in the Andrews County oil patch – plus another La Salle calf for five confirmed U.S. cases so far. We talk about the 20‑kilometer infested zones, road checkpoints, paperwork on livestock movements, and sterile‑fly drops along the border – and how all of that looks if you’re in South Texas, New Mexico, or buying cattle out of those areas. The bug is a biology problem; the rules they’ll write on top of it are an economic problem. I wrap it up with why packers are still chasing cattle in a short‑cattle, long‑capacity world, how BLM’s new grazing rule and the death of the Public Lands Rule change (and don’t change) public‑land grazing reality, what EPA’s right‑to‑repair guidance actually does for your ability to work on your own iron, and a quick hit on H5N1 in dairy cattle and what that might mean for cull cows going through dairy‑heavy plants. If you make your living on a horse, in a tractor, or with a wrench in your hand – or you just care what screwworms, packers, public land, and a downed Apache mean for your fuel bill and sale‑barn check – this one’s for you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices