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
Friggin’ Farm & Ranch Report — Weekly Wrap | April 10, 2026
Apr 1100:53:24Tap to summarizeThis week’s Weekly Wrap is a full barn. JBS Greeley’s workers are back on the line with no contract, diesel jumps another 24 cents to $5.64, and USDA’s April WASDE reminds everybody there still aren’t enough cattle and there’s too much wheat. We break down live and feeder cattle, cash trade, slaughter pace, boxed beef, and what a below-capacity kill floor means for your fats and your calves. On the sale barn side, we run the Sale Barn Double-Shot with cattle runs across the West plus a firm using-horse market, and we tip the hat to sponsors Lone Star Stockyards in Texas and Atkinson Livestock Market “The Old Reliable” up on Highway 20 in Nebraska. Then it’s grains, inputs, and pain: range-bound corn and beans, wheat trading a war-and-drought risk premium, diesel screaming higher, fertilizer stubbornly expensive, and interest rates that refuse to back off. We hit drought maps, Washington State’s fourth straight drought emergency, and what that means for grass, hay, and stocking rates. War Reel covers the Iran front, Hormuz and Red Sea shipping risk, and the Black Sea grain corridor – not because we like it, but because it’s why your fuel bill and fertilizer freight won’t calm down. We wrap with Forest Service HQ moving west, the Farm Bridge deadline, sports shenanigans, and an “On This Day” run from the Titanic to a Florida Porsche joyride. Sponsored by: Lone Star Stockyards (Wildorado, TX) – https://www.lonestarstockyards.com Atkinson Livestock Market “The Old Reliable” (Atkinson, NE) – https://www.atkinsonlivestock.com Markets, war, drought, and bad decisions – all tied back to what it means for your cows, your crops, and your fuel bill. Move your ass – we’re Burnin’ Daylight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Man About a Horse — Friggin’ Farm & Ranch Report (4/9/26)
Apr 1000:32:39Tap to summarizeToday's Friggin' Farm & Ranch Report is a "don't screw up" kind of market. Live cattle in the high 240s, feeders still stout, May corn in the mid-$4s taking some pressure off the bunk. Cash rundown from OKC West, Clovis, Billings, and a horse market with starch back in the cull floor. Inputs: diesel at $5.643/gal, WTI near $98, DAP/urea still painful. Drought hammering the southern Plains and Southwest. War reel: Ukraine grinding, Israel-Hezbollah trading shots, Hormuz still a choke point. Policy risk meter at 48/100. Freedom Framework overall: 41/100 — defensive. Watch your inputs. Sponsored by Lone Star Stockyards — catalog horse sale Saturday April 11 at 11am Central. lonestarstockyards.com Subscribe and get the full dashboard at burnindaylight.substack.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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War Premium Off, Cattle Still Tight — Friggin' Farm & Ranch Report (4/8/26)
Apr 900:47:20Tap to summarizeWar, ceasefire, and a cattle market that refuses to roll over. In this Friggin' Farm & Ranch Report for Wednesday, April 8, 2026, Matt walks through a wild 24 hours where Trump's Pakistan-brokered two-week truce with Iran knocked crude down as much as 18%, only for the whole deal to start cracking before the ink was dry. We talk Hormuz, Lebanon, OSINT, and what a "ceasefire" actually means when tankers, missiles, and diesel bills are all tied together. From there, it's one clean after-close market segment: - Live cattle holding in the high 240s with tight supply still doing its job - Feeders clawing back earlier weakness on cheaper corn and snug calves - Corn/beans/wheat leaking lower into the bell as war and weather premium come out - Metals ripping on a late fear bid while stocks puke into the close in a classic risk-off flush Fence Post Politics hits the Farm Bill, environmental lawfare, and the AI data-center land war that's chewing up irrigated acres, water, and cheap power. Drought and herd numbers get their due, with tight beef cows and tight grass still the main story in the West. We close with On This Day, some sports, and a reminder that local zoning boards might be the last line of defense between your cows and a server farm. If you're trying to make sense of war headlines, diesel receipts, and a cattle market that won't quit, this one will get you caught up enough to make decisions without flinching. Move your ass -- we're burnin' daylight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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War, Weather & Cattle Checks – Friggin’ Farm & Ranch Report (4/7/26)
Apr 700:43:22Tap to summarizeWar premium, ugly diesel, tight cattle, and DC nonsense – today’s Friggin’ Farm & Ranch Report (April 7, 2026) runs from the ring to the war zone and back to your wallet. Matt kicks off with Lone Star Stockyards’ run at Wilderado – 1,168 head with feeders $10–$20 higher and calves sharply higher on a light test – then walks through fats, feeders, hogs, and a grain board trading war, weather, and rumors. He lays out crude over $100, national diesel around $5.64, DAP at $682, urea at $549, potash just under $400, prime at 7.75% and feeder finance at 8.25%, plus a hot sale-barn pulse from Nevada to Oklahoma and a big Superior run that shows just how aggressive buyers are on light calves. The WAR REEL dives into “Operation Epic Fury,” the largest volume of U.S. strikes on Iran so far, continued Russian-Ukrainian slog, 400+ wounded U.S. troops, and what missiles over Hormuz and the Red Sea really mean for oil, freight, and your fuel bill. Matt breaks down OSINT, Telegram, and legacy media spin, and why the only thing that matters is what actually got hit and who pays the bill. From there it’s H5N1 in more than a thousand dairy herds, tighter EID rules, New World screwworm creeping north with a sterile-fly plant in Texas, and a hard look at the 45Z “clean fuel” tax credits that turn your tillage, nitrogen, and manure into someone else’s carbon score. He closes with a quiet but important Colorado property-tax change for pasture-based outfits, some “On This Day” history, and a quick run through March Madness and early-season baseball. For working cowboys and farm & ranch families who live and die by moisture, markets, and policy, this is your daily sitrep. Subscribe to Burnin’ Daylight on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get podcasts, and get the full market dashboard and premium write-ups at burnindaylight.substack.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Friggin' Farm & Ranch Report | War Premium, Tight Cattle & DC Fire — April 2, 2026
Apr 200:41:01Tap to summarizeToday's show is a war-premium, tight-cattle, DC-on-fire kind of day. $110 crude, JBS strike Day 11, Trump's prime-time Iran address, the Farm Bill and PRIME Act moving in Congress, cattle price transparency, grazing and WOTUS, and a drought picture that's burning up the Southern Plains. All of it, straight through. Sponsored by LoneStar Stockyards — Amarillo, TX. Real markets, honest weigh-ups, buyers who show up to bid. Topics: Cattle markets | Energy & crude oil | Grains | JBS strike | Iran & Hormuz | Farm Bill | PRIME Act | Cattle price transparency | Grazing MOU | WOTUS | Southern Plains drought | On This Day — April 2 Full post + transcript: https://burnindaylight.substack.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →War Desk, Cattle Leverage & the Viagra Anniversary — Friggin' Farm & Ranch Report (March 27, 2026)
Mar 28Tap to summarizeThe Iran war isn't just a map on cable news -- it's American kids from farm towns and ranch schools sitting in missile range. This week: cattle held their ground, hogs sulked, grains stayed cheap, and the big outside markets are trading war headlines harder than USDA reports. In this episode: - Livestock close: live cattle up, feeders strong, hogs under pressure - Grains close: corn soft, beans fading rallies, wheat algorithm-trading - Macro & metals: crude spiking on war premium, gold and silver bid, stocks sliding into correction - War desk: troop movements, Operation Epic Fury update, casualty counts, cost estimates, and damage assessments on both sides - On This Day: U.S. Navy created (1794), Goliad Massacre (1836), Alaska earthquake (1964), and the FDA approves Viagra (1998) Middle America does the fighting -- we deserve straight talk, not slogans. Subscribe: burnindaylight.substack.com Dashboard: burnin-daylight-report.replit.app Cattle markets, farming, ranching, Iran war, commodities, agriculture, Burnin' Daylight, Friggin' Farm & Ranch Report Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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