Market News

Cattle futures mostly higher Thursday

Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures were steady to higher and feeders were up, watching the direct markets. Contracts were able to shrug off the session’s cash and wholesale bearishness, along with last week’s marketing year low for beef export sales. August live cattle held at $182.25 and October was up $.30 at $183.50. August feeders were $1.80 higher at $256.15 and September was up $1.77 at $256.35.

Direct cash cattle trade was quiet Thursday following some light business that took place on Wednesday. Southern live deals were marked at $188, steady with Tuesday’s decline, but $2 to $4 lower than the previous week. Northern dressed trade was at $312, $2 lower than the prior week’s weighted averages. Asking prices for cattle left on showlists are around $190 in the South and $315 in the North.

At the Hub City Livestock Auction in South Dakota, Wednesday’s sale was the first reported sale in recent weeks so an accurate price trend could not be established. USDA says there was good to very good demand for a large offering of mostly backgrounded cattle selling in strings and loads. An active market was seen for this offering after not many cattle moving last week due to the Independence Day Holiday. Feeder supply included 75% steers and 94% of the offering was over 600 pounds. Medium and Large 1 feeder steers 902 to 946 pounds brought $254.75 to $259.50. Medium and Large 1 feeder heifers 771 to 785 pounds sold for $249.50 to $250.25.

Boxed beef closed lower with Choice down $2.40 at $321.65 and Select down $.56 at $303.38. The Choice/Select Spread was $18.27.

Estimated cattle slaughter was 122,000 head – up 116,000 on the week and down more than 4,500 on the year.

Lean hog futures were supported by the higher midday move in pork and oversold signals. August was up $2.00 at $86.67 and October was $1.07 higher at $69.40.

Cash hogs were mostly lower with light closing negotiated sales at the major direct markets. Most buyers appear to have the needed numbers in hand after a couple of days of aggressive activity earlier this week, adding just a few hundred head between the open and close. Wholesale business has been mixed, mostly higher, over the past few days, indicating generally good domestic demand, but the market would like to see some consistency.

Barrows and gilts at the National Daily Direct were down $.54 with a base range of $78 to $89.50 and weighted average of $86.77. The Iowa/Minnesota was up $.85 with a weighted average of $88.16. The Western Corn Belt was down $.34 with a weighted average of $86.99. The Eastern Corn Belt was not reported due to confidentiality.

Butcher hog markets in Dorchester, Wisconsin and Garnavillo, Iowa were closed on Thursday. At Illinois, sows were $2 lower with a range of $51 to $63; barrows and gilts were steady at $52 to $62; boars ranged from $8 to $28.

Pork values closed higher – up $181 at $96.23.

Estimated hog slaughter was 475,000 head – up 465,000 on the week and up more than 8,000 on the year.