In this episode, I sit down with Jordan Levi to explore how he’s built a unique edge in the cattle industry by combining deep analytical thinking with real-world market experience. Jordan walks me through how he approaches cattle trading, the key biological and financial variables that ultimately determine profit and loss, and how he developed his framework without growing up in the business. We spend time unpacking how the cattle market actually works, where volatility comes from, and how operators think about risk across the cycle. We also dive into how he’s embracing AI tools and building custom workflows to stay ahead in a fast-moving, data-heavy environment.

We discuss:
- How the cattle market works and why volatility creates both risk and opportunity
- The key drivers of profitability including feed efficiency, average daily gain, and out weight
- The difference between biological intuition and building a data-driven edge in cattle trading
- How Jordan processes daily reports and market data to inform trading decisions
- How he’s building AI agents to summarize information and streamline his workflow

Links:
Vote for Jordan to be inducted into the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame - https://cattlefeeders.org/poll/2027-cattle-feeders-hall-of-fame/
Jordan on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-levi-b107182/

Topics:
00:00 - Intro
02:35 - The Belted Galloway
04:10 - The Kosher Cowboy
08:24 - Pulling value of the futures forward
12:02 - Learning cattle trading
17:07 - Daily average gain in cattle
18:39 - Jordan’s eureka moment in the cattle industry
21:27 - What does trading in animals actually look like?
27:24 - How Jordan defines his ROI in trading cattle
31:36 - The cattle curve
33:56 - The state of the cattle market
42:29 - Buying the largest cattle feeder in the world
46:28 - Grass vs. grain-fed cattle
49:34 - Predictions for the cattle supply over the next 10 years
51:13 - The international market
53:36 - Trading frequencies and macro thesis
01:00:46 - USA beef vs. international beef
01:05:40 - The cattle supply chain
01:07:51 - The future of auction yards and ranchers
01:09:59 - AI in AgTech
01:13:11 - The biggest problem facing the industry
01:15:01 - Livestock as a commodity that dies and how that impacts trading theory
01:21:10 - Is there a market for new entrants into cattle?
01:22:00 - Beef prices and the impact of a closed border on the industry
01:24:58 - Jordan’s biggest ideas for the industry
01:27:08 - Philanthropic efforts
01:31:43 - A day in the life of Jordan
01:27:01 - Risk management in cattle
01:41:36 - Does what you do show a leading indicator to the broader health of the American economy?

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