Cattle market analysts say producers seem to continue painting themselves into a corner, unable to turn a profit for any length of time. A chart released by Gregg Doud, agricultural economist for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, shows profitable cattle feeder performance only about a third of the time over the last four years.

Doud said the cattle feeder only needs two raw materials - feeder cattle and corn - to make a slaughter-ready animal.

When the price of one goes up, the cattle operator must pay less for the other or have finished product prices rise as well, or he will experience a negative margin, Doud said.

From 2006 to 2007, the price of fed cattle went up, but not enough to counter gains in other input costs, Doud said. As a result, cattle feeders lost money in all but three months last year.

Source: Agriculture Online