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A year after the pandemic disrupted the hog industry and left producers facing financial ruin, operators are now experiencing a once-in-a-lifetime rally as farrow-to-finish margins climbed another $7 per head last week.

A California man has shown that ghost cattle are unnecessary to create a Ponzi scheme, just ghost manure. Or, at least, ghost manure digesters.

Farrow-to-finish pork producers earned $28 profit per hog last week, a $3 per head decline from the previous week. A month ago farrow-to-finish pork producers showed a loss of about $2 per head.

Cattle feeding margins declined despite cash prices that were steady across all regions. Packer margins improved with higher beef cutout prices.

Average feedyard closeouts improved last week as cash prices inched modestly higher.

Average feedyard closeouts continued to show solid profits on cattle marketed the final week of March.

Profit margins for cattle sold for slaughter last week declined $55 per head, according to the Sterling Profit Tracker.

Cattle feeding margins improved $16 per head last week as cash prices inched higher less than $1 per cwt.

Cattle feeding margins declined by $80 per head last week as cash prices slumped $1 to $2 per cwt.

A $3 per cwt retreat in cash cattle prices pushed cattle feeding margins $67 per head lower.