With all this hog market momentum, how aggressive does one get locking in margins?

It’s hard to believe we are more than halfway through June already. While temperatures during World Pork Expo were quite pleasant, our hog markets were sizzling!  Both cash and cutout moved higher than most expected that week. You could feel the excitement in the air.  Fast forward another two weeks and markets have continued to move higher. The pork carcass cutout posted solid gains this past week, climbing 5.1% week-over-week to an average of $113.36, now up 13.0% year-over-year. Lean hog futures also advanced across the board. The front-month June contract moved up 1.7% on the week to an average price of $102.58. Deferred months posted similar gains: July (+1.7%), August (+2.4%), October (+2.5%), December (+2.4%), February ‘26 (+1.6%) and April ‘26 (+1.2%). With the impact of an ugly 20-month window from late 2022 to early 2024 in the rearview mirror, it is fun to look forward and talk about current margins and forward curves that look quite favorable. Hog prices averaged higher t