THE PROTEIN PULSE — DRIVE TIME

Wednesday Watchlist | September 23, 2026

HOST: Protein Pulse Drive Time. Wednesday Watchlist, September twenty-third. From The Sparks Group.

SHAWN: Know your market. Know your external risks. And make sure your meat isn’t paying somebody else’s bills. August placements fell nine point two percent to the lowest August on record — one point six one seven million head. On-feed still up seven-tenths. Year-to-date slaughter down seven point five percent, about one point six million fewer cattle. Heavier carcasses and higher Choice grading are offsetting some of the missing head, not all of it.

HOST: Santa Teresa is scheduled to reopen Thursday. Historically about forty-three percent of Mexican cattle imports. That helps feeders. It does not immediately restore finished cattle.

SHAWN: Sterling has packers at plus one thirty-nine and feedlots at minus three twenty-four. Imported nineties three nineteen C I F Philadelphia versus domestic four twenty. That’s about a dollar of gross spread — not a dollar of delivered savings. New Zealand is heading into its seasonal low. China is taking October production. S and P has about twenty-two thousand tons cleared under the September tranche. The window closes the thirtieth.

HOST: Hogs and Pigs Thursday. Breeding herd expected down seven-tenths. Current packer margin is thirteen cents underwater. Turkey: more than six hundred thousand birds affected in five weeks. Crude down. Diesel up. Don’t assume cheaper freight.

SHAWN: The opportunity isn’t the lowest quote. It’s whether that value survives the trip to your customer’s dock. Stay disciplined.

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

SHAWN: Stay disciplined.