Wall Street Journal: Mercy For Animals investigation impacts price of cattle futures

Lester Aldrich of the Wall Street Journal covered the abuse at E6 Cattle company in Hart, Texas:


"The video, which has been posted to the internet, pressured live-cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Traders were concerned its graphic nature would cause a pullback in consumer demand for beef.

"The video helped to push June futures down 1.3% to $1.1565 a pound after the contract hit a two-week high earlier in the trading day"

Texas Sheriff Investigates Animal-Cruelty Video Rattling Cattle Market

It is ironic that the impact was credited to a predicted reduction in demand for beef, since E6 is a facility that raises dairy cattle. Perhaps the analysts don't think the consumer knows the difference between dairy cows and beef cows?

Later, we learned that it's probable this market dip resulted in fewer calves being born into lives of misery on factory farms - another MFA victory, albeit a much quieter one.