GrainStrategy

Harvest Moon Ag

Ross Hastings · Cloud County, KS · Wes Tolliver · client since 2022

296k bu at 66% priced · 3,256 head at 8% sold
$9.6M under management
Price to the planCosts are estimatesLast spoke in 15 days1 critical7 other findings(785) 555-6132
2,996 head has no floor under it. Whether that matters depends on the margin: with the market well over cost of gain it is a risk the desk can live with, and with the market near cost it is the finding that outranks everything else on this page.
Head to market
3,256
260 sold, 8% by head
Sold against pace
8%
Pace target 10% by head.
Head with no floor
2,996
Unsold, with no endorsement and no forward contract.
On the table
$743,967
Margin over cost of gain in the unsold head, at today's market.

Pen, Feb placement Feedlot

3,256 head at 12.76 cwt · 41,547 cwt total

Needs a callMarketable now
Time stop passed: the 649 head lot was due 2026-06-09

The plan sells this lot on the calendar rather than the market, so cattle do not ride past condition and weight. Today's market is $182.00/cwt against a $162.54 break-even.

649 head at $182.00 banks $161,160 over cost of gain.

Cost of gain
$162.54
$2,074 a head. Stated, Jan 9, 2026.
Market today
$182.00
Feedlot at the outlets this client uses.
Average sold
$176.69
+$14.15/cwt over cost on 260 head, so $47,757 banked.
Market over cost
+$19.46
$743,967 across the unsold head.
Sold against pace, by head8% of 10% target

By head rather than by pounds, which is what a producer means. 260 head is 8% of the weight, because the lots that went first were not average.

2,996 unsold2,996 with no floor59 on a grid, not settled48 sold, not shippedWindow Jul 9, 2026 to Sep 9, 2026

What is under the price

No LRP endorsement on this group. With grain the fallback is a bin; here there is none, so an unsold head with no floor is exposed to whatever the market does between now and the day it has to move.

The net floor is the coverage price less the premium, because a $6.50 premium on a $240.00 coverage price is a $233.50 floor. And LRP settles on RMA's published index rather than on what these animals bring at the barn: the basis between the two stays with Ross Hastings, so this is not a guaranteed sale price and should never be described as one.

The ladder

PriceHeadOver costAwaySell byState
$181.67649+$19.13
$158,427
$0.00Jun 9, 2026
2 months ago
Time stop passed
$188.22709+$25.68
$232,330
$6.22Aug 9, 2026
15 days ago
Time stop passed
$193.04861+$30.50
$335,093
$11.04Oct 9, 2026
in 46 days
Working
$201.47617+$38.93
$306,499
$19.47Dec 9, 2026
in 4 months
Working

Lots sold

DateHeadWeightPriceOutlet
May 14, 20265913.23 cwt$175.11
estimate
Great Plains Beef
Grid
Mar 13, 20264812.81 cwt$186.64Great Plains Beef
CashNot shipped
Feb 1, 202615312.94 cwt$174.22Great Plains Beef
Cash

A grid lot's price is an estimate until the carcass data comes back, in the same way an HTA with the basis open is on the grain side. Both mean the average on the client's statement moves after the fact.