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Published on:

19th Oct 2026

THE PROTEIN PULSE — DRIVE TIME Monday Market Open | October 19th, 2026

THE PROTEIN PULSE — DRIVE TIME

Monday Market Open | October 19th, 2026

HOST: Protein Pulse Drive Time. Monday Market Open, October 19th. From The Sparks Group.

SHAWN: It's always easier to paddle with the current than fight your way upstream. But take a look at these markets. We're not dealing with a lazy Sunday float down the river. We're in the middle of some raging rapids, and half the time you can't tell which direction the damn water is running. Everybody's got an opinion about where we're headed. The river doesn't care how smart you think you are, and being right on Monday doesn't mean a damn thing if you're broke by Friday. We can't control the current. But we sure as hell can control the decisions we make while we're in it. Make yours count this week.

HOST: Cash cattle entered the weekend with Southern bids at two twenty-eight. Choice boxed beef closed at three seventy-two, down one sixty-seven. Select at three fifty-three. Fresh nineties at three ninety-seven F-O-B plant. South American frozen nineties near three oh five at the port. Pork cutout recovered three cents to eighty-one. Chicken breast at one seventeen. Thigh at one seventy-three.

SHAWN: Two new screwworm cases in New Mexico put Columbus in question. No official reopening date. Don't count those cattle until it's confirmed. Ice Futures is planning competing livestock contracts for December 7th. The real test is liquidity, not the press release. Stay disciplined.

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

SHAWN: Stay disciplined.

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About the Podcast

Protein Pulse Podcast
Your Daily Market Update on All Things Protein.
The Protein Pulse Podcast delivers concise, commercially focused protein market intelligence for buyers, sellers, traders, procurement leaders, processors, and executives across the beef, pork, chicken, feed, and global protein markets. Each episode translates USDA data, market pricing, slaughter trends, trade flows, imports, feed costs, policy developments, and supply-chain signals into clear, practical market context. The focus is simple: cut through the noise, explain what the numbers mean, and give protein professionals the market context they need before making their next decision. Your Daily Market Update on All Things Protein.

About your host

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Shawn Sparks

Shawn Sparks is the founder of The Protein Pulse and a protein procurement, sourcing, and trading executive with more than two decades of experience across beef, pork, chicken, and the broader food supply chain.

His career has included senior procurement and purchasing leadership roles at some of the largest food companies in the industry, with responsibility for billions of dollars in annual protein spend and complex domestic and global sourcing programs.

Today, Shawn leads The Sparks Group, Inc. and Great Plains Protein LLC, where he works across protein sourcing, trading, procurement strategy, supplier development, and market intelligence.

Through The Protein Pulse Podcast, Shawn brings a practical, commercial perspective to the protein markets — translating USDA data, pricing, slaughter trends, imports, exports, feed costs, policy, and supply-chain developments into clear context for buyers, sellers, traders, processors, and industry leaders.

His focus is simple: cut through the noise, explain what the numbers mean, and help protein professionals understand what matters next.

The Protein Pulse — Your Daily Market Update on All Things Protein.