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Protein Pulse Podcast

Protein Pulse Podcast

Written by: Shawn Sparks
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The Protein Pulse Podcast delivers concise, commercially focused protein market intelligence for buyers, sellers, traders, procurement leaders, processors, and executives across the beef, pork, chicken, feed, and global protein markets. Each episode translates USDA data, market pricing, slaughter trends, trade flows, imports, feed costs, policy developments, and supply-chain signals into clear, practical market context. The focus is simple: cut through the noise, explain what the numbers mean, and give protein professionals the market context they need before making their next decision. Your Daily Market Update on All Things Protein.Copyright 2026 Shawn Sparks Art Cooking Economics Food & Wine Politics & Government
Episodes
  • THE PROTEIN PULSE — DRIVE TIME Taco Meat Tuesday | October 13th, 2026

    THE PROTEIN PULSE — DRIVE TIME Taco Meat Tuesday | October 13th, 2026
    Oct 13 2026
    THE PROTEIN PULSE — DRIVE TIMETaco Meat Tuesday | October 13th, 2026

    HOST: Protein Pulse Drive Time. Taco Meat Tuesday, October 13th. From The Sparks Group.

    SHAWN: The next move in protein may not come from Chicago or the Southern Plains. It may come from overseas. Brazil is looking for new beef customers as China limits imports and Europe closes its doors. China is buying less foreign pork, and Spain is redirecting product following disease-related trade restrictions. That's a lot of meat looking for a home. I'm not suggesting we'll suddenly see cheaper beef or pork. But when major exporters start competing for different customers, pricing opportunities can develop. Sometimes the biggest opportunities aren't created by what happens here, but by what's changing somewhere else.

    HOST: Choice advanced two twenty-one Monday to three seventy-five fifty-six. Fresh domestic nineties averaged three ninety-six. Imported frozen nineties indications near three seventeen to three nineteen are worth watching, but they are not directly comparable. Cattle slaughter remains seven point four percent below last year. The five-area live F-O-B average stood at two twenty twenty.

    SHAWN: Pork delivered Monday's strongest move. The cutout advanced two forty-seven to eighty-two ninety-seven. Hams up three thirty-three. Bellies up two oh six to ninety-one thirty-three. The question is whether that improvement holds. Chicken breasts averaged one eighteen. Thighs one sixty-eight. Slaughter is up one point three percent. December corn closed at four eighty-three. Meal at three sixty-eight seventy. Monday's pork rebound was worth noticing. So is the changing international trade outlook. The numbers tell us where the market stands. Knowing which ones could change tomorrow is what gives buyers an advantage. Stay disciplined.

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

    SHAWN: Stay disciplined.
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    2 mins
  • THE PROTEIN PULSE - Taco Meat Tuesday | October 13th, 2026

    THE PROTEIN PULSE - Taco Meat Tuesday | October 13th, 2026
    Oct 13 2026
    THE PROTEIN PULSETaco Meat Tuesday | October 13th, 2026Full Executive Briefing — Spoken ScriptHOST: Welcome to The Protein Pulse Podcast, your daily market update on all things protein. This is Taco Meat Tuesday for October 13th, 2026, from The Sparks Group.SHAWN: The next move in protein may not come from Chicago or the Southern Plains. It may come from overseas. Brazil is looking for new beef customers as China limits imports and Europe closes its doors. China is buying less foreign pork, and Spain is redirecting product following disease-related trade restrictions. That's a lot of meat looking for a home, and buyers should be paying attention. I'm not suggesting we'll suddenly see cheaper beef or pork. But when major exporters start competing for different customers, pricing opportunities can develop. And those opportunities may show up where we least expect them. We've been talking about cattle numbers long enough. This week I'm more interested in who is selling, who's buying, and whether those shifts start changing the offers we see here at home. Remember, sometimes the biggest opportunities aren't created by what happens here, but by what's changing somewhere else.HOST: Pork opened the week with a two forty-seven cutout increase. Choice beef strengthened, and changing international trade conditions are creating new questions about protein competition. JBS is highlighting opportunities in prepared protein, while revised USDA hog-farrowing comparisons deserve attention heading into 2027. For buyers, the immediate priorities are lean-beef replacement costs, whether pork's wholesale recovery holds, and how changing consumer and export demand affect purchasing opportunities.SHAWN: Choice boxed beef advanced two twenty-one Monday to three seventy-five fifty-six. Select declined seventeen cents to three fifty-four thirteen. The Choice Select spread widened to twenty-one forty-three. December live cattle finished at two twenty-six sixty, down forty-five cents, while the latest five-area weekly live F-O-B average stood at two twenty twenty. Cattle slaughter remains seven point four percent below last year. Fresh domestic nineties averaged three ninety-six. Eighty-fives at three thirty-four. Sixty-fives at one fifty-two. Fifties at eighty-seven cents. Earlier imported frozen nineties indications near three seventeen to three nineteen suggest a market worth watching, although those assessments cannot be directly compared with Monday's fresh domestic quotations. At the same time, Brazilian exporters face changing market access in China and Europe. That could affect competition in international beef markets, although it does not establish additional U.S. availability or lower domestic prices. USDA forecasts U.S. beef imports declining three percent in 2027 under current quota assumptions. For ground-beef processors, the opportunity is to watch whether international competition translates into attractive delivered quotations. The spread between published market assessments is not necessarily the spread available to an individual buyer.HOST: Chicken continues to provide competitive purchasing options, with young-chicken slaughter running one point three percent above last year. USDA's October 5th through 9th weekly averages placed boneless skinless breasts at one eighteen, tenderloins at one thirteen fifty, whole wings at one ten sixty, boneless skinless thighs at one sixty-eight, and bulk leg quarters at fifty-three cents. An interesting development is coming from JBS, where prepared-foods leadership sees growing protein interest among younger consumers and GLP-1 users as an opportunity across chicken, pork and beef. That makes product innovation and convenience increasingly relevant to processors and foodservice operators. Consumer interest in protein may create opportunities beyond traditional commodity cuts, although actual sales and margins will determine which products succeed. Reported avian influenza cases involving Minnesota turkey breeders and commercial poultry in Canada remain worth monitoring. These reports do not establish a direct disruption to U.S. broiler supplies. Buyers should continue evaluating chicken on cut-specific economics while watching where demand for prepared and value-added products is developing.SHAWN: Pork delivered Monday's strongest wholesale move. The carcass cutout advanced two forty-seven to eighty-two ninety-seven, with five of six primals gaining ground. Hams increased three thirty-three to seventy-two sixty-two. Picnics rose two ninety-three to sixty-five fifty-seven. Loins climbed two eighty-three to eighty-three seventy-one. Bellies added two oh six to ninety-one thirty-three. Ribs declined fifty-five cents to one fifty oh four. The question now is whether that improvement carries through the week or proves to be another short-lived recovery. Monday's estimated hog slaughter was four hundred ninety-eight thousand head. Year-to-date slaughter remains zero point nine ...
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    8 mins
  • THE PROTEIN PULSE — DRIVE TIME Monday Market Open | October 12th, 2026

    THE PROTEIN PULSE — DRIVE TIME Monday Market Open | October 12th, 2026
    Oct 12 2026
    THE PROTEIN PULSE — DRIVE TIMEMonday Market Open | October 12th, 2026

    HOST: Protein Pulse Drive Time. Monday Market Open, October 12th. From The Sparks Group.

    SHAWN: John Tyson got a laugh this week when asked why he couldn't bankroll Arkansas football like Cody Campbell. "He's got oil, and I've got chickens." As a die-hard Oklahoma State Cowboy, that one hit home. We had our own oilman in T. Boone Pickens. Money can build a program. Commitment builds a legacy. The protein industry understands that. Capital opens doors, but margins, discipline, and execution determine who stays competitive. Go Pokes.

    HOST: Friday's Choice cutout fell a dollar fifty to three seventy-three thirty-five. Select gained two fifty-seven. Fresh nineties were three ninety-six ninety-two. Weekly cattle slaughter was five hundred thirty-one thousand, down three point seven percent. Year-to-date is down seven point four percent. December live cattle settled at two twenty-seven. November feeders at three forty-one ninety-five. Expanded lean-beef import access has yet to deliver noticeable retail price relief. Separate fed beef, cow beef and imported grinding inputs.

    SHAWN: Pork cutout gained eighty-six cents Friday to eighty fifty, but the five-day average was down three seventy-two on the week. Bellies averaged ninety seventy-seven, down on the week. Chicken breasts averaged one eighteen. Thighs one sixty-eight. Projected broiler production is up. Wasdy raised corn yield to one eighty-one point two. December corn settled at four eighty, down twenty and a half cents. Meal went the other way, up eight dollars. Friday changed the grain balance sheet, not the protein supply equation. Lower input costs create possibilities. They don't guarantee lower purchase prices. Stay disciplined.

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

    SHAWN: Stay disciplined.
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    2 mins
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