Podcast
Burnin’ Daylight
Hosted by Matt McKinley · EN
A podcast explaining and celebrating the intricacies, wisdom and humor of cowboy/ cowpuncher/ buckaroo culture. Enjoy conversations with working cowboys, authors, musicians, business leaders and hilariously offensive news and political analysis from the viewpoint of your favorite feedlot cowboy, Matt McKinley.
The podcast for the working cowboy!
76episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Diesel Knife Fight, Cattle Hammered & USDA Misses Delaware: Friggin' Farm & Ranch Report — 5/11/26
May 1201:01:21Tap to summarizeMatt McKinley, coming at you out of Yerington, Nevada — Monday, May 11, 2026, post-close edition of the Friggin' Farm & Ranch Report. Split-personality tape today: grains ripped ahead of tomorrow's noon-Eastern WASDE, cattle got hammered on Trump-admin tariff-suspension headlines, and diesel is sitting 15 cents from an all-time national record. Engine's calling it WATCH at 51% medium confidence — market at an inflection point, wait for confirmation before acting. ON THE TAPE • Corn $4.74¼ (+21¾¢, +4.80%) · Beans $12.11 (+32¢, +2.71%) · KC Wheat $6.87¼ (+11½¢) • June Live Cattle $249.65 (-$3.83, -1.51%) · Aug Feeders $362.45 (-$9.95, -2.67%) • EIA On-Highway Diesel $5.64 (+29¢/wk) · AAA Diesel $5.636 · AAA Regular $4.520 (highest since June '22) • Choice/Select INVERTED AGAIN — Choice $391.22, Select $391.49 (Select OVER Choice = demand is real) • WTI $98.25 (+3.33%) · Silver +13.01% · Copper +5.79% · DAP $682/T · Urea $549/T SALE BARN PULSE OKC West 787-lb $368.93 (10,138 head) · Clovis NM 600-lb $654.25 · Producers San Angelo 614-lb $476.89 · Torrington WY 1,313-lb $212.52 (probably cull stock off the Nebraska fires) · Billings MT 1,031-lb $365.73 · Producers Salina UT — light cattle firing, heavies softening across the board DEEP DIVE — Two Beef Magazine pieces dissected and named for what they are: Neville Speer's "Packers, Politics and Theater" (pro-packer/pro-market-flexibility bias acknowledged on air) and Dennis Smith's "When will the bull market end?" (drought + 60-year-old average cow-calf operator + high rates + screwworm) — Box beef inversion is BACK — Select trading OVER Choice tells you demand is very, very real — Screwworm inching toward Texas, Mexican border closed two years running. Bill Bullard's happy; South Texas and California grass guys are not — Feedyard margins squeeze: ration cost climbing as live takes a $3.83 haircut, diesel +29¢ on the freight side UNDERREPORTED — STORIES YOU OUGHTA HEAR — USDA missed the 2025 corn crop by 4.5 MILLION acres (bigger than Delaware). Former chief economist Seth Meyer: "It's a miss. No other word to call it." — 70% of US farmers say they can't afford this year's input costs (American Farm Bureau survey, April) — California's 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act is finally biting Madera County — canary for every Western water basin including Nevada and the Ogallala FENCE POST POLITICS H.R. 7567 — the 2026 Farm, Food, and National Security Act · Missouri AG Catherine Hanaway vs. Prop 12 fallout · USDA's One Farmer, One File modernization · Tariff suspension on beef-exporting nations ON THIS DAY — MAY 11 1837: One of the first U.S. agricultural patents issued + John Deere starts manufacturing plows 1858: Minnesota admitted as the 32nd state 1862: Homestead Act moving through Congress (160 acres for 5 years of farming) 1935: FDR creates the Rural Electrification Administration SPORTS NBA conference semis underway · Avalanche 5-2 over Minnesota, lead the series 3-1 · D-backs over Rangers 1-0, Eovaldi shoved but took the L · Aces-Padres in San Diego next week THREE TAKEAWAYS 1. Watch tomorrow's WASDE at noon Eastern — grains ran today on positioning, the report decides if it holds 2. Cattle tone is defensive, not broken — don't chase the down move on quality replacements you actually need 3. Diesel is the silent killer — 15¢ from an all-time record, 29¢ in a week. If you haven't locked fall fuel, call your jobber SUBSCRIBE: burningdaylight.substack.com Paid subs get discounted access to the Burnin' Daylight Report dashboard AND A Man About A Horse equine intelligence app. If you're in the horse business — cowboy flipping on the side, breeder, trainer, whoever — hit me up. Helping hone the See A Man About A Horse pricing feature. FOLLOW on Facebook · Instagram · YouTube · Twitter/X · TikTok · Rumble Don't let your butt crack. Stay safe out there and move your ass — we're burnin' daylight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Cubs Cool Off, Reds Wake Up, Tigers Survive
May 1101:21:38Tap to summarizeBusy week of baseball. Streaks snapped, arms shoved, and a couple of fanbases went through it. Matt and Jake run through the Tigers snapping a five-game skid, the Reds finally waking up after eight straight losses, and the Cubs coming back to earth after a 10-game heater and 15 straight at Wrigley. They dig into why the NL Central looks like the best division in baseball right now, how the Rays quietly sit on top of the AL East over the Yankees' gaudy run differential, and why the Astros might actually be cooked in May. You'll also get Tigers injury talk (Skubal's elbow cleanup and all the bullpen days), the state of the AL Central clown show, Padres–Dodgers in the West, and a full beanball segment after Framber dots Trevor Story. New episodes of BD Baseball Weekly Recap drop every week on Burnin' Daylight Sports. Listen & subscribe: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2ZtEeyDYlFW20iz2xc0VYb Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/burnin-daylight/id1460032773 Megaphone RSS: https://feeds.megaphone.fm/burnin-daylight Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Cubs Win 10 Straight, Yankees Get Punched, Reds Free Fall | Sat 5/9/26
May 900:44:36Tap to summarizeSaturday, May 9, 2026. Coming in hot from Yerington. Standings are starting to mean something. Cubs ripped off ten straight, the Yankees got shut out by a 24-year-old throwing 103, and the Reds — last month's NL darlings — got hung with a ten-spot at home and dropped their eighth in a row. On today's show: • Misiorowski's 103.6 mph masterclass — first Brewers shutout of the Yankees since 1992 • Cease's 10 K Friday in Toronto, McGreevy's career-high 9 K shutout for the Cards, Arrighetti stuffs the Reds • Luke Raley's 7 RBI night in Seattle, Hunter Goodman's 10th HR, Mark Vientos walks off the D-backs • Full standings sweep across all six divisions — who's real, who's a fraud, who's quietly cooked • Homer focus: A's in first in the AL West, Tigers on a 4-game skid, Rockies showing a heartbeat • Saturday slate breakdown — every probable, every angle, including Strider vs. Snell in primetime • Watch list: Cubs going for 11, Reds trying to stop the bleeding, Misiorowski's 70 K in 8 starts Daily MLB show. No corporate copy. No host notes. Just baseball talk. burnindaylightsports.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Weekly Wrap 5/8/26 — DOJ Comes for the Big Four, Cash Cracks, Nevada Water on the Clock
May 900:32:56Tap to summarizeMatt McKinley wraps May 4-8, 2026 from Yerington, Nevada. Cash cattle printed an all-time record midweek and gave back into Friday — June live $248.90, August feeders $364.22. Boxed beef cracked Thursday and partially recovered Friday (Choice $389.02 / Select $385.17). EIA on-highway diesel $5.640, up 29¢ WoW. AAA national regular $4.546 / diesel $5.663 — pump up 25¢ two weeks running, $1.40 higher YoY, highest since 2022. DAP $682 (+$14), urea $549 (+$8). Sale Barn Pulse: 6 markets, 15,247 head, avg $480.78/cwt; OKC West $368.93 on 787-lb. DOJ has confirmed an antitrust investigation into the Big Four meatpackers — Tyson, Cargill, JBS USA, National Beef — roughly 85% of the U.S. fed cattle market — and is actively soliciting whistleblowers. Three story segments: drought + fire + structural cattle crunch (86.2M total / 27.6M beef cows / 50.9% U.S. in drought); Farm Bill H.R. 7567 + PRIME Act pilot + Big Four probe; Western water rights — Lower Basin 3.2M acre-feet cuts through 2028 + the Nevada NRS 533.087 vested rights deadline of December 31, 2027. War Reel ties Hormuz fertilizer disruptions and the AAA pump surge back to your input bill. On This Day closer on V-E Day, May 8, 1945. Burnin' daylight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Cubs Won't Lose, Reds Can't Win, A's Are in First | 5/8/26
May 800:31:22Tap to summarizeComing in hot Friday morning out of Yerington — your daily MLB rundown. The Cubs have won nine in a row. The Reds have lost seven in a row. They're in the same division. Your A's are sitting in first place in the AL West after JT Ginn went 8 innings of one-run ball and the West Sacramento lineup hung 12 on the Phillies in their own park. Tonight: Chris Sale at Dodger Stadium, Max Fried vs Misiorowski in Milwaukee, and Chase Dollander walking into Citizens Bank. WHAT'S IN THIS EPISODE • JT Ginn shoves 8 innings, A's 12 — Phillies 1 • Imanaga keeps Chicago rolling, Cubs at 26-12 • Mitch Keller out-pitches Zac Gallen — ace duel in the desert • Liberatore wins another knife fight — Cards 8-2 in their last 10 • Marlins walk it off on a throwing error in Baltimore • Rays seven straight, nine of ten • Standings, division by division — A's leading a messy AL West • Tigers have the only positive run diff in the AL Central • Tonight's slate, top to bottom HOMER LENS A's, Tigers, Rockies — extra time, extra opinion. Always. SOURCING All scores, records, last-10s, run differentials, and probable pitchers verified against MLB.com's official pages. Burnin' Daylight Sports — daily MLB. Move your ass, we're burning daylight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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$255 Cash, 313K Kill — Packers Run the Rope | Friggin' Farm & Ranch Report 5/7/26
May 800:28:54Tap to summarizeThursday, May 7, 2026 — Yerington, NV. Three shows deep into the same story this week. Cash cattle printed $255.02 5-Area live and $399.08 dressed for the week ending May 3rd, but the board's bleeding and the cutout is cracking. Packers bought 72,513 head and ran a 313,000 weekly kill — down 34,133 from same week last year. That's leverage, not competition. In this episode: • Live data off the BDR dashboard — June live cattle 250.45 (-1.30), Aug feeders 366.68 (+0.07), June hogs 99.775, July corn 467.25, July beans 1,191.00, KC HRW wheat 667.25 • 5-Area Weekly Weighted Average breakdown — full steer/heifer live and dressed prints • Boxed beef cutout — Choice 387.58 (-2.04), Select 385.08 (-4.55) • Sale Barn Pulse — OKC West $368.93 on 787-lb cattle, six-market average $545.30 • Diesel up 29 cents week-over-week to $5.640; DAP $682, Urea $549, Potash $398 • Prime Rate 7.75% / Feeder Finance 8.25% — both unchanged • Big Four Packer Probe — Day 4, no filing, the silence is the news. Brooke Rollins, Todd Blanche, Chad Sullivan press conference review • Plains AND Nebraska fire aftermath — Ranger Road, Lavender, 8-Ball, Morrill, Cottonwood, Road 203, Anderson Bridge — over a million acres of cow country burned out, drought index hitting record territory • "Golden Age of Agriculture" rhetoric vs USDA's $50 billion farm income drop — Iowa farmer on CBS, Zippy Duvall at Senate Ag, National Potato Council • Thomas Massie's PRIME Act tucked into the Farm Bill — what to watch • On This Day: Lusitania 1915, Reims surrender 1945, STS-49 first three-person spacewalk, 27th Amendment ratified after 202 years Defensive tape, defensive playbook. Move your ass — we're burnin' daylight. 📬 burnindaylight.substack.com 📊 burnin-daylight-report.vercel.app Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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BD Baseball 5/7/26 – Skenes Shoves, Pages Nukes, A's/Tigers/Rockies Watc
May 700:21:20Tap to summarizeToday on Burnin’ Daylight Sports, we run through a loud Wednesday in Major League Baseball: Paul Skenes dealing in Arizona, Nathan Eovaldi punching the Yankees in the mouth again, Andy Pages going full video game, and Marcus Semien cashing in at Coors. Then it’s a full division-by-division standings snapshot, AL West and AL Central chaos, Rockies pain in the NL West, and a look at today’s slate through the homer-club lens of the A’s, Tigers, and Rockies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Big Four Heat & Bean Rally — Friggin' Farm & Ranch Report (5/5–5/6/26)
May 700:36:38Tap to summarizeStudio blew up on me yesterday, so today's Friggin' Farm & Ranch Report is a two-day catch-up for May 5–6. We put the Big Four packer antitrust story right up front, then walk the board, the barn, inputs, drought, and DC without making you bounce your head off the wall. We talk packer leverage, what a real DOJ case would mean for cow-calf outfits and feedyards, and why nothing has "fixed" cash trade yet. Then we go through two days of tape: June live cattle taking a hard hit Tuesday and a small bounce Wednesday, August feeders doing the same, lean hogs holding the front month in the low-90s with June around a buck, and soybeans leading the way both days while corn keeps your ration costs tight. On the cash side, we use Lone Star Stockyards' Texas Angus Association feeder sale as the lead steer — 980 head, about 85% feeders, steers and heifers mostly $2–$6 higher — and lay that alongside March Cattle on Feed and a $460 sale-barn average. On the input side, diesel stays camped around $5.64 EIA and $5.659 AAA with AAA gas about $4.48, and corn isn't giving anybody a real break either. We wrap with APHIS' brucellosis zone expansion, ag bills sitting in committee, and Southeast drought chewing up grass and forcing some ugly decisions. No fake certainty, no Wall Street voice — just cattle, feed, diesel, and policy in plain ranch language. Sponsor: Lone Star Stockyards, Wildorado, TX — Tuesday sale every week at 11 AM Central. lonestarstockyards.com. Move your ass — we're burnin' daylight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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BD Baseball 5/6 – Skubal's Elbow, AL Central is Booty, Sanchez Shoves
May 600:31:38Tap to summarizeWell, welcome back, daylight burners. How the hell are ya? Spent yesterday arguing with AI chatbots and my shit wasn't working, but the studio's finally alive again, so let's talk some damn baseball. We kick it off with Tarik Skubal's elbow surgery — loose bodies in there, Tigers' ace on the shelf, and the only real news from Monday turning into a "well, that's not ideal" situation. Then we roll through scores from around the league: Red Sox pounding the Motor City Kitties, Jays dropping one to a hot Rays club, Yankees and Royals rolling, Reds reeling, and everybody else stuck around .500. Framber Valdez decides Trevor Story's been tipping signs and buries one in his back, benches clear, and we get into where "stealing signs the right way" ends and "you're just being a dumbass" begins. Christopher Sanchez absolutely shoves it right up the A's ass, Severino pitches good enough to win, and the bullpen finds a way to light it on fire anyway. Then it's the injury and transaction dump: Skubal's elbow, Carlos Correa's bad ankle, Acuña's hammy, Shea Langeliers on the paternity list, Jonah Heim back to the A's for catcher depth, and a pile of arms bouncing between the IL and rehab assignments. Standings talk: AL Central is straight booty with not a single winning record, AL West is mid while the A's somehow hang on with a negative run differential, Braves are a wagon, Cubs are rolling in a loaded NL Central, Reds cooling off, Pirates way better than anyone expected, and the Giants and Rockies both suck at their own pace. We wrap it with today's pitching matchups worth a damn: McClanahan vs Corbin, Glasnow vs McCullers, Wheeler vs Springs, Paul Skenes vs Soroka, and a bunch of dudes who are either shoving or getting touched up. Move your ass. We're burnin' daylight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Cash Still King, Feed Still High — Friggin’ Farm & Ranch Report (5/4/26)
May 500:29:11Tap to summarizeBoard took a breather, cash is still doing the heavy lifting, and the sale barns plus the video boys are telling you this feeder and replacement market is not done yet. This is your Monday reset for May 4, 2026. We start with the scoreboard: fats at 251.95, feeders at 366.98, corn at 4.85½, beans at 12.22¼, and wheat just under 6.96. On feed sits at 11.55 million head with February placements at 1.61 million (104% of last year) and marketings at 93%, all against a total herd of 86.2 million – lowest since 1951. From there we walk through cash, cutout, and packer pain – 5‑area cash still in record territory, late trade around 256 live and 405 dressed, Choice in the upper 380s, Select barely under it, and packer margins deep red at roughly –$231/head. Somebody’s math is going to break first. Sale barn pulse covers big Friday and Saturday runs plus the videos: Plains and Lake Cumberland yearlings $6–$12 higher, cows and bulls firmer, 235‑lb calves bringing $700/cwt, and older pairs still trading close to five grand a pair. Then we zoom out to Thursday’s Superior Hudson Oaks sale – roughly 24,700 head with most of the feeders over 600 lb and USDA calling feeder steers $10–$20 higher and steer calves up to $25 higher versus the Gulf Coast Classic – and Friday’s Western Video out of Paso with five‑weights at $560, 570‑lb heifers over $500, nine‑weights in the mid‑$300s, and front‑end heifer pairs from $5,575 to $6,200. Inputs and drought get their due: diesel at $5.351, DAP at $682, urea at $549, potash at $398, prime 7.75%, feeder money 8.25%, and nearly half the Southern Plains in severe‑to‑extreme drought while the Corn Belt is basically fine. You’re feeding high‑dollar cattle on high‑dollar fuel, high‑dollar fertilizer, and high‑dollar interest. Then we roll through the war reel and policy – why Ukraine, the Middle East, and shipping lanes keep a floor under energy and freight, why Tyson’s outlook and losses don’t line up clean with a 75‑year‑low herd, and why USDA’s shrinking survey response means every WASDE and planting report has more noise and more room to whipsaw the board. We close with Golden Tempo’s 23‑1, last‑to‑first Kentucky Derby win for trainer Cherie DeVaux – the first woman to win the Derby – and tie that back to the kind of horse, and the kind of cattle, that will still be traveling when everyone else quits. It’s not a get‑rich market. It’s a don’t‑screw‑up market. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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