Cattle Post Strength with Feeders Mixed

Live cattle futures posted gains of 27 to 85 cents on the day. Cash trade settled in last week around $191 in the South and $191-192 in the North, which was a $1-2 improvement from the previous week. There were no deliveries issued against December live cattle on first notice day.

Feeder cattle were down a tick in January on a weaker cash market, with other contracts up 17 t0 67 cents. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was up another 42 cents from the day prior at $262.25 on December 6. The weekly OKC feeder cattle auction has an estimated 13,000 head for sale for today, which is well above last week and the same week last year Price action was down $3-7 for feeder steers and steady to $5 lower for feeder heifer, with calves down $10.

USDA wholesale Boxed Beef prices were back higher in the Monday PM report. Choice boxes were up $2.10 to $314.14/cwt, with Select $2.61 higher @ $279.34. USDA estimated Monday’s federally inspected cattle slaughter at 119,000 head. That was 2,000 head above the previous Monday but down 6,212 from same week last year. 

Dec 24 Live Cattle  closed at $187.800, up $0.425,

Feb 25 Live Cattle  closed at $187.025, up $0.850,

Apr 25 Live Cattle  closed at $188.950, up $0.650,

Jan 25 Feeder Cattle  closed at $255.800, down $0.025,

Mar 25 Feeder Cattle  closed at $255.200, up $0.525,

Apr 25 Feeder Cattle  closed at $256.250, up $0.675,

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