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Published on:

21st Oct 2026

THE PROTEIN PULSE — DRIVE TIME Wednesday Watchlist | October 21st, 2026

THE PROTEIN PULSE — DRIVE TIME

Wednesday Watchlist | October 21st, 2026

HOST: Protein Pulse Drive Time. Wednesday Watchlist, October 21st. From The Sparks Group.

SHAWN: Everybody wants to talk about opening more crossings for Mexican cattle. That's worth watching, but opening a gate doesn't put finished cattle on the rail tomorrow. USDA is moving toward additional cattle-entry points while Washington considers incentives to retain breeding heifers. One could expand feeder availability. The other could keep more females out of the immediate beef pipeline. Meanwhile, imported lean is telling its own story. Domestic cow slaughter is down, but imported trimming values have been under pressure. More than one supply channel determines what processors actually pay. Price the cattle available, not the cattle promised.

HOST: Choice advanced one seventy-two to three seventy-three thirty. Select rose one sixty-three to three sixty-one fifty-four. Imported frozen nineties at three thirteen C-I-F East Coast. Pork cutout at seventy-eight fifty-three, down eighty-six cents. Bellies at eighty-nine sixty-seven. Chicken breast at one seventeen. Thigh at one seventy-three.

SHAWN: Columbus is scheduled to reopen October 26th. Nogales is conditionally targeted for November 30th. Australia has hit its reported annual beef-import quota. Kayem is recalling about one point five eight million pounds. Margin is determined by actual product economics, not the headline direction of the market. 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.