
Hosted by Matt McKinley · EN

The cattle trade story of the year dropped this week and almost nobody connected the dots. China's GACC renewed 5-year licenses for 425 U.S. beef packing establishments — straight out of the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing. USMEF CEO Dan Halstrom called it "what we've been waiting for almost a year." Meanwhile, the same Washington that spent $30 million to primary Thomas Massie — the only guy in Congress who consistently pushed back on farm policy sellouts — is now celebrating a China beef deal that China can turn off whenever it wants. We'll unpack both. Today's show covers: China GACC: 425 U.S. plant licenses renewed + 77 new registrations. What it means, what it doesn't, and why Argentina's peso devaluation changes the math Big 4 packer antitrust update — DOJ/FTC review context Cash cattle confirmed today: $263.90/cwt live, $410.00/cwt dressed — 3,074 head thin test on a soft board Corn reverses 11.5¢ · Boxed beef Choice $395.75 · HRW wheat at 17% good-to-excellent — worst since 2012 Diesel $5.60/gal (EIA wk ending 5/19) · Brent $110 · DAP $682/ton · Urea $549/ton War Reel: Ukraine hits Russian oil refineries 1,600 km inside Russia — Yaroslavl, Tuapse, Samara — and the direct line to your fuel and fertilizer bill Farm Bill: House passed HR 7567 April 30 (224-200), Senate markup imminent — Boozman targeting late May Brucellosis zone comment window OPEN NOW for MT/WY/ID Yellowstone interface producers On This Day: Homestead Act signed (1862) · Levi's born in a Reno tailor shop (1873) · Hamburger Hill — 72 KIA, abandoned 3 weeks later (1969) Burnin' Daylight is the farm and ranch market report for working producers — no hedge-fund voice, no filler, every number sourced before it goes on air. 🟡 Subscribe on Substack (ad-free + full show notes + dashboard):https://burningdaylight.substack.com Find us everywhere podcasts live. New episodes every weekday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The cattle trade story of the year dropped this week and almost nobody connected the dots. China's GACC renewed 5-year licenses for 425 U.S. beef packing establishments — straight out of the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing. USMEF CEO Dan Halstrom called it "what we've been waiting for almost a year." Meanwhile, the same Washington that spent $30 million to primary Thomas Massie — the only guy in Congress who consistently pushed back on farm policy sellouts — is now celebrating a China beef deal that China can turn off whenever it wants. We'll unpack both. Today's show covers: China GACC: 425 U.S. plant licenses renewed + 77 new registrations. What it means, what it doesn't, and why Argentina's peso devaluation changes the math Big 4 packer antitrust update — DOJ/FTC review context Cash cattle confirmed today: $263.90/cwt live, $410.00/cwt dressed — 3,074 head thin test on a soft board Corn reverses 11.5¢ · Boxed beef Choice $395.75 · HRW wheat at 17% good-to-excellent — worst since 2012 Diesel $5.60/gal (EIA wk ending 5/19) · Brent $110 · DAP $682/ton · Urea $549/ton War Reel: Ukraine hits Russian oil refineries 1,600 km inside Russia — Yaroslavl, Tuapse, Samara — and the direct line to your fuel and fertilizer bill Farm Bill: House passed HR 7567 April 30 (224-200), Senate markup imminent — Boozman targeting late May Brucellosis zone comment window OPEN NOW for MT/WY/ID Yellowstone interface producers On This Day: Homestead Act signed (1862) · Levi's born in a Reno tailor shop (1873) · Hamburger Hill — 72 KIA, abandoned 3 weeks later (1969) Burnin' Daylight is the farm and ranch market report for working producers — no hedge-fund voice, no filler, every number sourced before it goes on air. 🟡 Subscribe on Substack (ad-free + full show notes + dashboard):https://burningdaylight.substack.com Find us everywhere podcasts live. New episodes every weekday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The morning crew was too polite to spell it out, so Matt did it after the close. Tuesday, May 19, 2026 — WTI settled $104.23 (+3%), Brent ~$111 (+~5%), and the Trump administration publicly admitted it called off an Iran bombing campaign yesterday. CENTCOM's Adm. Brad Cooper says he's ready to "execute a broad range of contingencies." Stocks got smoked, metals cratered, cattle bled on the board — and cash cattle didn't blink at $262.72 live / $411.56 dressed. This is not a watch-and-wait day. The whole macro picture is repricing around an Iran war about to escalate again, and your diesel bill, your fertilizer bill, and your feeder calf math just got rewritten between Friday's close and right now. In this episode: • Markets close — LE 247.18 (-1.94%), GF 363.85 (-1.01%), HE 102.10 (+12.88%), Corn 475.25 (+5.26%), Beans 1,210.25 (+3%), Meal -3%, Gold -4%, Silver -12.89%, Russell -4.09% • Lead story: Iran, $104 crude, and what it means for diesel ($5.65 retail), urea, and DAP • Cattle complex: cash holds, board sells — sale barn pulse from Clovis NM, Producers UT Salina, OKC West (with the on-the-fly correction), Producers TX, Billings MT, Torrington WY • Cattle on Feed setup heading into Friday's NASS report • Grains: corn ripping, meal selling — feedyard ration math you should run tonight • Drought: D3/D4 at 16.3% of monitored regions; Southeast at 81% D2+ • Disease wall: potato wart in PEI + Dectomax-CA1 screwworm EUA • Policy: S.785 American Beef Labeling Act cloture filed (MCOOL fight inside 30 days), S.1102 WOTUS markup, EV/hybrid registration fees, and a Thomas Massie eulogy • On This Day: T.E. Lawrence's motorcycle wreck (May 19, 1935), Mt. St. Helens (May 18–19, 1980), and the capture of Cynthia Ann Parker / birth of the Quanah Parker story (May 19, 1836) • Sports: JT Ginn's 8 no-hit innings undone in the 9th, Rashee Rice 30 days, Caitlin Clark grand marshal of the Indy 500, Avs–Knights WCF, and the Toy Story 5 conspiracy • Close: what Matt would do this week — top off diesel, book fall fertilizer, sell into cash strength, pay down operating notes, don't be the guy holding the bag at 6 PM Eastern when the next Iran headline drops Shout-out to the firefighters, farmers, and ranchers working the fires in SE Colorado, the OK/TX Panhandles, and SW Kansas. Tied — keep that disc moving. Cash is king. The packer is the only honest buyer. Tehran is writing your fuel bill this week. Friday's Cattle on Feed report lands at 2 PM Central — be ready. Move your ass — we're burnin' daylight. Full write-up, sources, dashboard, A Man About A Horse, and ad-free episodes: burningdaylight.substack.com Follow on Instagram, Facebook, X, YouTube, Rumble, and wherever you get podcasts — search Burning Daylight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matt and Jake recap a brutal Monday around MLB: JT Ginn's 8 no-hit innings spoiled by Zach Neto's walk-off HR, the Mets putting up a 10-spot in the 12th to beat the Nats 16-7, the Rays staking their claim to the best record in baseball, the Brewers serving notice in the NL Central, and a Michael King–Yamamoto pitcher's duel in San Diego. Plus Acuña off the IL, Chadwick Trump called up, NBA double-OT, and the Avalanche/Toy Story conspiracy. Today's preview included. Move your ass — we're burning daylight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Daylight Burners — Matt and Jake are back to wrap up another week of baseball. Livestream gremlins be damned, we recorded it anyway. What's in this one: - Tough week for Tigers, Rockies, and A's fans (but we survived) - The White Sox are 24-22 and chasing the Guardians — is this real life? - Murakami and Schwarber going nuclear (Schwarber more HRs than half the league since May 7) - Friday/Saturday/Sunday game-by-game recap across the league - Wheeler vintage, Valdez dealing, Schlittler keeps shoving - Nick Kurtz pushes his on-base streak to 40 games (chasing Rickey) - A's transaction tornado: Jonah Heim in, Austin Wynns out, Junior Perez to the ChiSox, Jose Suarez (woof), Alika Williams up — and why Carlos Cortez might be the next to go - Tigers injury report: Mize back, Torres rehab in Triple-A, Báez running, Skubal throwing - Standings pulse: AL East two-horse race, AL Central scrum, NL East Braves + Phillies, NL West A's cling to first - Week ahead: Brewers/Cubs, Tigers/Guardians, Reds/Phillies, and the Padres/Dodgers heavyweight bout - HR + OPS leaders New episodes every Tuesday. Move your ass — we're burning daylight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Weekly wrap for the week ending May 16, 2026. It's been a week, daylight burners. Trump flew to Beijing, shook Xi's hand, declared fantastic deals, and flew home. The soy market said show me the purchase order — beans closed the week down 31 cents from Monday's peak. The one concrete thing that came out of that summit? China quietly renewed import licenses for 400+ US beef plants on Thursday. Five-year validity. The door to the world's biggest beef market just reopened. Cash cattle hit $260–$265 live and held all week — record territory. The WASDE cut US beef production 243 million pounds and raised the steer price forecast $8–$10 across the back half. The futures didn't believe it on Monday. By Friday, the board was following cash higher. The beef tariff executive order got pulled after ranch country raised hell. The Choice/Select spread is sitting at $0.10 — near inversion. Grilling season demand is very real. Wheat was the print of the week. KC hard red ripped $0.81 on the WASDE before giving back Friday. New crop all-wheat production at 1.561 billion bushels — below the lowest analyst estimate. If you stored winter wheat, your bin got more valuable this week. The Southern Plains and Southwest lit up Thursday and Friday. Hunggate Fire in Randall County TX — 14,000 acres, mandatory evacs, 5 simultaneous ignitions. Line Fire crossing from Quay County NM into the Texas Panhandle. Cimarron County Oklahoma getting hit again — same corridor as the February Ranger Road Fire. The NIFC season is running at 194% of the 10-year average. Nebraska already lost a million acres of summer grass. The Great Basin summer outlook is above normal for fire potential. Plan now, not in July. Also on the show: pseudorabies confirmed in Iowa and Texas commercial swine — first time since eradication in 2004. Fertilizer Institute CEO told the Senate Ag Committee that 34% of global urea runs through the Strait of Hormuz. Urea is up 47% since February and the Hormuz premium is not peeling off. Purdue Ag Economy Barometer hit an October 2024 low — two-thirds of producers expect net farm income to fall in 2026. And North Dakota pastureland broke $1,000 per acre in every region of the state. This is the show. Move your ass — we're burnin' daylight. Full show prep, transcripts, and the Burnin' Daylight dashboard: burningdaylight.substack.com A Man About a Horse equine intelligence app: burningdaylight.substack.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy Friday, daylight burners! Matt and Eric ride solo today (Jake's back Sunday) to recap a rough Thursday on the homer front and set up a loaded Rivalry Weekend. The A's drop a 5-4 heartbreaker to the Cardinals — Kurtz extends his on-base streak to 37 games with a leadoff bomb (two shy of Giambi's '98 A's record), but the bullpen coughs up the lead. The Rockies get rolled 7-2 in Pittsburgh as Ryan O'Hearn goes 3-for-4 with a two-run shot and Chase Dollander exits early with right forearm soreness. The Tigers get swept by the Mets 9-4, A.J. Ewing's first big league homer caps the Mets' five-homer barrage, and Hinch gets tossed (on a hot mic) over a blown replay at third. Around the league: Chase Burns deals 6 IP, 2 H for the Reds in a 15-1 dismantling of the Nationals (JJ Bleday — back-to-back jacks, 6 RBI), Zebby Matthews tosses 7 shutout in his spot start for the Twins, Schwarber breaks up a pitchers' duel with an 8th-inning bomb at Fenway, Brewers handle the Padres 7-1, Mariners take down Houston 8-3 (Cal Raleigh to the IL with a right oblique), Cubs avoid the sweep 2-1 in Atlanta behind Ben Brown's 4 IP, 1 H, 7 K, White Sox keep rolling over the Royals, and the Dodgers retake the NL West lead with a 5-2 win over the Giants. Full injury rundown: Cal Raleigh, Dollander, Garrett Crochet (20 pitches off the mound!), Max Fried imaging, Cole Ragans to the IL with pitcher's elbow, Kerry Carpenter, Verlander sim game, Buxton hip flexor, Murphy IL/Sean Murphy out, Hyeseong Kim back, Lindor still not close, Francisco Alvarez 6-8 weeks (meniscus), Yelich back, Nootbaar nearing rehab, Boyd out 6 weeks, Paddock signed by Reds, Mookie Betts back, and more. Weekend preview: Forget the Subway Series — the marquee matchup is the Crosstown Classic on the South Side (Cabrera vs. Burke). Plus Phillies-Pirates (Nola vs. Ashcraft), Blue Jays-Tigers (Yesavage debut watch), Reds-Guardians, Rangers-Astros, Royals-Cardinals, D-backs-Rockies (hammer the over), Padres-Mariners, and Giants at the A's in West Sac. Betting picks inside. Now move your ass — we're Burning Daylight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Friggin' Farm & Ranch Report — Thursday, May 14, 2026 Host: Matt McKinley from Yerington, Nevada Cash cattle hold at $260 live in the South while futures stay skeptical. Wheat surges again on WASDE-driven drought concerns. The Fertilizer Institute testifies to Congress on the Hormuz disruption's impact on global fertilizer supply. North Dakota pastureland tops $1,000/acre — a national first in survey data. Beijing's Day 1 readout of the Trump-Xi summit adds geopolitical context to ag markets. We break down what this means for cattle margins, feed costs, and policy risk — with a local lens from Nevada. Stories covered: - Trump delays beef tariff order; market reaction and packer dynamics - Cash cattle at $260; futures skepticism and breakeven math - Wheat & grains rally on WASDE drought pricing - Hormuz disruption and fertilizer (urea/phosphate) price implications - APHIS brucellosis policy update near Yellowstone - Drought Monitor: D3/D4 expansion - ND pastureland tops $1,000/acre nationwide first - Beijing Day 1 readout: Trump-Xi summit - Fallon/Great Basin sale barn records on light calves Chapters: 00:00 Cold open 01:30 Tariffs: Trump delays beef tariff order 04:00 Cattle: cash $260 and futures dynamics 07:30 Wheat & grains: WASDE fallout 10:15 Fertilizer & Hormuz 12:45 Beijing Day 1 readout 15:30 Brucellosis/APHIS update 18:00 Drought Monitor update 20:45 ND pastureland values 23:30 War reel recap 25:30 Beef export read-through 28:15 Fallon/Nevada sale barn color 32:00 Three to watch for Friday 34:00 Close and callouts Got sale barn numbers? Send them in — we'll weave them into Friday's wrap. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jake and I are back after a day off to break down a loaded Wednesday slate from around MLB. Pounded through some livestream gremlins to get this one out — there was too much baseball to skip. The story of the day was the youngsters: Henry Bolte and Michael Stefanic showing out in their MLB debuts for the A's, A.J. Ewing and Carson Benge powering the Mets' walk-off over the Tigers, and Drake Baldwin staying hot in Atlanta. What we cover: • Shohei Ohtani drops his ERA to 0.82 with 7 shutout innings vs. the Giants • Nick Kurtz's 3rd career grand slam — on-base streak now at 36 games • Mickey Moniak's birthday near-cycle (3-5, HR/2B/3B, 5 RBI) • Jacob Misiorowski's 10-K masterpiece and the quad cramp scare • Daulton Varsho walks off the Rays with a 10th-inning grand slam • Daylen Lile's tiebreaking 10th-inning HR buries the Reds • Kyle Bradish one-hits the Yankees; Max Fried exits with elbow soreness • White Sox climb to .500 for the first time since March 31, 2025 • Riley Greene scorching, Casey Mize back Saturday — cavalry incoming for Detroit • Standings deep-dive across all six divisions • Today's slate, rubber matches & weekend preview (Cubs/Braves is the CTV) No show Saturday. Friday weekend preview, Sunday wrap. Move your ass — we're burning daylight. — Matt & Jake Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two days of markets in one shot. This Friggin' Farm & Ranch Report folds Tuesday's May WASDE fireworks into Wednesday's cattle tape and policy mess. We start with WASDE-671: U.S. wheat chopped to 1.561 billion bushels, 424 million under last year and below the low end of the trade range. KE wheat runs 50 cents, corn and beans climb, and USDA quietly confirms the drought story we've been preaching for weeks. We spell out what that does to your wheat, hay, and feed costs headed into summer. Cattle side, USDA cuts 2026 beef production 243 million pounds and raises steer prices, but the board shrugs. Cash bids hit $260 live in the South while Live Cattle futures close $1.70 to $2.80 lower and Feeders $2.50 to $7.30 lower. The longs are walking, and we break down what the Wednesday Fed Cattle Exchange needs to do before you pull the trigger on fats. We hit the DOJ's criminal antitrust probe into the Big 4 packers, walk through the sale barn pulse from OKC West, Dodge City, Beaver County, and Lone Star Stockyards, then talk diesel at $5.64, fertilizer that 70% of farmers say they can't afford, the Farm Bill in Senate limbo, Trump–Xi in Beijing, Colorado's wolf budget blowout, and the Hormuz tanker war keeping a premium in your fuel bill. Straight talk, no hedge-fund voice. Markets, policy, war — all tied back to your fuel bill, feed bill, and cattle check. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices