THE PROTEIN PULSE — DRIVE TIME

Closing Bell Friday | October 9th, 2026

HOST: Protein Pulse Drive Time. Closing Bell Friday, October 9th. From The Sparks Group.

SHAWN: We spend a lot of time talking about cattle numbers, plant capacity, and margins. Those numbers matter. But none of it works without the people showing up every day to keep these plants running. Recent immigration enforcement in southwest Kansas disrupted staffing and cattle movements in an already strained beef supply chain. We can debate immigration policy all day, but we still have to keep the plants running. You can't build a dependable protein supply chain with an undependable workforce.

HOST: Year-to-date cattle slaughter is twenty point nine eight million head, down seven point five percent. Choice fell seventy-seven cents Thursday to three seventy-four eighty-five. Select fell two forty-eight to three fifty-one seventy-three. Imported beef trimmings jumped eighty-five percent from last year, to twenty thousand nine hundred metric tons. Imported frozen nineties assessed at three nineteen, C-I-F East Coast, and three oh five, F-C-A, against domestic fresh nineties around four oh two. Those are not interchangeable. More imported lean can still change the blend even while cattle stay scarce.

SHAWN: Pork cutout fell to seventy-nine sixty-four, down six thirty-seven from Monday. Bellies dropped seven forty-five to eighty-two forty-six. Chicken is the steady one, with year-to-date slaughter up one point three percent. WASDE is at eleven a.m. Central. Analysts see a smaller corn crop, but higher ending stocks. A smaller harvest doesn't necessarily mean tighter available supplies. Tight supply doesn't always mean higher prices, and falling prices don't automatically mean a buying opportunity. Stay disciplined.

HOST: Protein Pulse Drive Time. Shawn Sparks, The Sparks Group.

SHAWN: Stay disciplined.