Al6-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 26, 2003 GRAIN, CATTLE, HOG, & MILK BFP FUTURES MARKETS Markets Courtesy of Chicago Board and Mercantile Exchange Closing Bids: Thursday. April 24, 2003 Com 04/03/03 04/04/03 04/04/03 04/04/03 04/04/03 04/04/03 04/04/03 04/04/03 04/04/03 04/04/03 04/04/03 *CASH* MAY 03 JUL 03 SEP 03 DEC 03 MAR 04 MAY 04 JUL 04 SEP 04 DEC 04 DEC 05 Total 04/03/03 Soybeans 04/23/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 *CASH* MAY 03 JUL 03 AUG 03 SEP 03 NOV 03 JAN 04 MAR 04 MAY 04 JUL 04 04/24/03 NOV Total 04/23/03 Soybean Meal High 04/23/03 *CASH* MAY 03 JUL 03 AUG 03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 Total 04/23/03 April 18,2003 BACK IN A MOLDOVAN FARMING VILLAGE The sun was shining today and I could see that spring was just beginning to emerge in the Mold ovan countryside. People have al ready plowed the fields and I could see a lot of activity in newly planted orchards. I’m back in this country for another volunteer assignment High 2516 2394 2404 2400 2402 2454 2484 2504 2420 2410 2380 Open 2382 2386 2384 2394 2450 2474 2496 2420 2396 2380 Volume Open_lnt 62063 419289 High 5950 6080 6114 6014 5680 5384 5404 5420 5390 5414 Open 6024 6050 5960 5644 5350 5380 5390 5390 5400 5120 5100 Volume Qpen_lnt 89543 257466 18250 1850 1820 1815 1-7 67 1848 1800 1710 1610 1600 1600 1612 1620 1640 1615 1613 1525 1540 1686 1597 1588 1590 1600 1615 1640 1615 1610 1525 1540 Volume Open_lnt 38910 171030 with the Citizens Network for Foreign Affairs. We drove three hours today north of the capitol city of Chisinau to a farming vil lage of Cuconesti-Noi. That is where my assignment will be. This village is located in North west Moldova, just across the border from Romania. Recall that the country of Moldova is situated between both Romania and Ukraine. Last 2516 2390 2396 2390 2396 2450 2482 2502 2420 2410 2380 Low 2516 2376 2384 2382 2392 2446 2474 2494 2420 2394 2380 Last 5950 6024 6050 5962 5626 5350 5380 5410 5390 5414 Low 5950 5986 6010 5922 5614 5324 5360 5374 5390 5400 5100 5100 Last 18250 1834 1824 1776 Low 18250 1805 1798 1751 1695 1599 1584 1582 1598 1600 1615 1605 1595 1525 1540 1675 1*584 1573 1580 1598 1600 1605 1605 1590 1525 1540 My assignment is to work with the Lactica Dairy Cooperative. They have a very entrepreneurial business manager, lon Borta. My job is to develop feasibility stud ies that will help improve the fin ancial health of the cooperative. lon is an interesting guy. He is more than 6 feet tall and weighs Lean Hogs Date 04/23/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 Chge -14 + 2 +4 +2 unch unch -2 unch unch + 10 +4 Composite Volume Open_lnt 04/23/03 8488 34607 Live Cattle Date 04/23/03 *CASH* 04/24/03 Apr 03 04/24/03 May 03 04/24/03 Jun 03 04/24/03 Jul 03 04/24/03 Aug 03 04/24/03 Oct 03 04/24/03 Dec 03 04/24/03 Feb 04 04/24/03 Apr 04 Chge -70 -4 -2 +4 -10 -12 -16 -14 -14 + 2 Composite Volume Open_lnt 04/23/03 11230 95592 + 10 Pork Bellies p . p . Date Open High Low Last Chge , r H H Volume Open_lnt 0 0 404 1459 301 1406 21 125 15 38 0 1 04/23/03 ' :: CASH* 0 800080008000+200 04/24/03 May 03 8565 865084758537 -13 04/24/03 Jul 03 8635 873085808655 unch 04/24/03 Aug 03 8490 849083608430 +lO 04/24/03 Feb 04 7870 787078707870- -22 04/24/03 Mar 04 7870 787078507850 unch Chge -350 + 14 + 10 + 9 + 5 unch Composite Volume Open_lnt 04/23/03 Oats 04/23/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 04/24/03 Total 04/23/03 Testing milk in Moldova. ~ ... , ¥ , Pre\i«us Previous Open High Low Last Chge ~ , ~ , , r H Volume Open_lnt 0 0 410 2236 5034 18635 1366 4319 1207 5113 331 2533 116 1189 1 389 11 179 12 14 0 503350335033 +275 5665 5680 5625 5667 +2O 6077 616560506147 +B5 6152 618061206172 +4O 6025 607060006065 +lO 5215 524052005240 +45 5175 517751555165 +lO 5570 558055605580 +5 5900 593059005900 -27 6480 648064356470 +3O "CASH* May 03 Jun 03 Jul 03 Aug 03 Oct 03 Dec 03 Feb 04 Apr 04 Jun 04 ~ , ¥ . Previous Previous Open High Low Last Chge ~ , ~ , , r Volume Open_lnt 0 0 1692 7883 195 2343 5834 46376 2 117 17321 12143 6337 2731 340 0 785378537853 unch 7730 774577027740 -7 7450 745074107412 -43 7155 715771057112 -55 6800 683067556830 unch 6747 675267206730 -32 6917 691768856900 -27 7117 711770907097 -25 7275 727572457255 -22 7355 735573157335 -25 741 Open *CASH* MAY 03 JUL 03 SEP 03 DEC 03 MAR 04 MAY 04 1740 1592 1490 1462 1504 1540 Volume Qpen_lnt 1421 6302 about 365 pounds. He is a former basketball player. He gets up at 6 in the morning and works till midnight. He is also very involv ed with the administrative mat ters in his village, so his time is valuable. (Turn to Page A 42) 3029 High 1846 1760 1594 1490 1480 1504 1540 To help farmers across the state to have handy reference of commodity input costs in their feeding operations for DHIA re cord sheets or to develop livestock feed cost data, here’s last week’s average costs of various ingredients as compiled from regional reports across the state of Penn sylvania. Remember, these are averages, so you will need to adjust your figures up or down according to your location and the quality of your crop. 2346 553 455 134 19 Low 1846 1700 1550 1454 1454 1504 1540 Last 1846 1710 1564 1454 1460 1504 1540 Average Farm Feed Costs for Handy Reference Com, No.2y 2.94 bu., 5.26 cwt. Wheat, N 0.2 3.09 bu., 5.15 cwt. Barley, N 0.3 2.20 bu., 4.70 cwt. Oats, N 0.2 2.11 bu., 6.58 cwt. Soybeans, No.l 5.80 bu., 9.68 cwt. Ear Com 89.38 ton, 4.47 cwt. Alfalfa Hay —160.00 ton, 8.0 cwt. Mixed Hay —160.00 ton, 8.0 cwt. Timothy Hay 138.00 ton, 6.9 cwt. Chge -66 -2 + 24 -4 + 14 +4 unch