HOST: Protein Pulse Drive Time. Taco Meat Tuesday, October 20th. From The Sparks Group.

SHAWN: Here's what caught my attention Monday. Cattle cost more, processors ran more head, and Choice beef still lost ground. Select went the other direction. That's a difficult combination to manage. Packers have more product to sell, but higher cattle costs don't disappear because a customer refuses an offer. Pork is presenting a similar challenge. Bellies and hams weakened even with fewer hogs processed last week. In chicken, breasts and thighs are moving in opposite directions. The next change in buying leverage won't arrive evenly. It will show up in particular products, from particular suppliers, for particular delivery dates. I want to know who's holding the pounds, who's buying them, and how long each side can wait. That's where the next negotiation gets interesting.

HOST: Choice closed at three seventy-one fifty-eight, down seventy-three cents. Select gained six eighty-six to three fifty-nine ninety-one. Fresh nineties at three ninety F-O-B plant. Imported frozen nineties at three thirteen C-I-F East Coast. Pork cutout at seventy-nine thirty-nine. Bellies at eighty-six ninety-three. Chicken breast at one seventeen. Thigh at one seventy-three.

SHAWN: Brazil confirmed Newcastle disease in Santa Catarina turkeys. Mexico suspended poultry imports from Brazil. Kayem is recalling about one point five million pounds of ready-to-eat product. Two more screwworm cases in New Mexico. Stay disciplined.

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