Cattle Current Market Update With Wes Ishmael

Cattle futures closed mixed Tuesday, with modest pressure likely stemming from technicals, as well as near month-end and contract-end jockeying. Live Cattle futures closed mixed, from an average of 25¢ higher across the front half of the board to an average of 27¢ lower. Other than 2¢ higher in spot October and unchanged in [...]

The 5-area direct average fed steer price last week was $110.13/cwt. on a live basis, which was 40¢ higher than the previous week. The average dressed steer price of $174.56 was 25¢ higher. Cattle futures mostly edged higher Monday, with firm cash trade and increasing wholesale beef values.  Live Cattle futures closed an average [...]

Except for the Southern Plains, negotiated cash fed cattle trade remained undeveloped through Friday afternoon, based on USDA reports. Live sales in the Southern Plains on Thursday were at $110/cwt., which was $1 higher in Kansas and $2 higher in the Texas Panhandle. Cattle futures strengthened Friday, supported by steady to higher cash trade, [...]

Negotiated cash fed cattle trade developed in the Southern Plains on Thursday, with live sales at $110/cwt. That was $1 higher in Kansas and $2 higher in the Texas Panhandle. Although too few to trend, there were also some early dressed sales in the North at $174-$175, which was $1 higher than the low [...]

Negotiated cash fed cattle trade remained undeveloped through Wednesday afternoon, but early trades hinted at steady to higher money. Although too few to trend, early live sales were reported at $109/cwt. in the Southern Plains and Nebraska. That was $1 higher in the south and steady with the lower end of last week’s range [...]

Cattle futures were mixed on Tuesday, with Lean Hogs helping pressure Live Cattle. Live Cattle futures closed mixed, from an average of 26¢ lower across most of the board (12¢ lower to $1.07 lower in spot Oct) to an average of 9¢ higher in three contracts. Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of 45¢ [...]

When all was said and done last week, negotiated cash fed cattle trade was mainly higher in the North and steady to lower in the South. Live sales were steady in Nebraska at $109-$111/cwt., steady to $3 higher in the western Corn Belt at $110-$111 and steady to $1 lower in the Southern Plains [...]

Based on USDA reports, negotiated cash fed cattle trade through Friday afternoon was looking most steady to mixed. Live prices in the Southern Plains were steady to $1 lower at $108/cwt. Dressed trade in the North was $1-$3 higher at mostly $173 in the western Corn Belt and at $173-$175 in Nebraska. Higher Corn [...]

Negotiated cash fed cattle trade remained undeveloped through Thursday afternoon, based on USDA reports. Cattle futures softened. Other than 5¢ and 50¢ higher in the front two contracts, Live Cattle futures closed an average of 34¢ lower. That was despite reports that Cargill suspended some operations at its Dodge City facility, in the wake [...]

Negotiated cash fed cattle trade remained undeveloped through Wednesday afternoon, based on USDA reports. There were a few early live sales in the western Corn Belt at $111/cwt.—$1 more than the top of the range for the region last week—but too few to trend. There were 768 head offered in the weekly Fed Cattle [...]

Negotiated cash fed cattle trade was undeveloped through Tuesday afternoon, based on USDA reports. Early expectations are for steady to higher prices. Cattle futures ended up mostly narrowly higher amid two-sided action, awaiting direction from this week’s cash market. Live Cattle futures closed an average of 31¢ higher, except for unchanged in near Dec. [...]

Negotiated cash fed cattle trade ended up higher last week. Live prices in the Southern Plains were $1-$3 higher at $109/cwt. in the Texas Panhandle and at $108-$109 in Kansas. Live trade in the Northern Plains ranged from steady to $4 higher in Nebraska at $109-$111, to $1 lower to $2 higher on a [...]

Except for some early sales in the North, negotiated cash fed cattle trade remained undeveloped through Friday afternoon, based on USDA reports. Early dressed sales in Nebraska were $2 higher than the previous week at $172/cwt. Early dressed sales also were trading for $172 in the western Corn Belt, but too few to trend. [...]

Negotiated cash fed cattle trade remained undeveloped through Thursday afternoon. Feeder Cattle futures crept mostly higher, while Live Cattle hovered amid sluggish two-sided trading. Except for 25¢ higher in the front two contracts Live Cattle futures closed an average of 28¢ lower. Except for 20¢ and 12¢ lower in the front two contracts, Feeder [...]

Negotiated cash fed cattle trade remained undeveloped through Wednesday afternoon. Many expect prices this week to be no worse than steady. Slaughter steers and heifers sold $1-$2 higher at Sioux Falls Regional in South Dakota on Wednesday. “Packer buyers weren't keen on pushing the market, especially on steers over 1500 lbs., but did have [...]

Cattle futures edged higher Tuesday, supported by the turnaround in Lean Hogs and despite a surge in Corn futures. Except for 7¢ and 35¢ lower in the front two contracts, Live Cattle futures closed an average of 31¢ higher. Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of 27¢ higher, except for 2¢ to 12¢ lower [...]

When all was said and done last week, negotiated cash fed cattle trade ended up mainly $3-$4 higher on a live basis—$106-$107 in the South and $107-$109 in the North—and $5 higher in the beef at $170. The 5-area direct average steer price was $2.37 higher on a live basis last week at $107.30/cwt., [...]

Negotiated cash fed cattle prices extended gains last week, with live sales in the Southern Plains $4/cwt. higher in Kansas at $107 and $3-$4 higher in the Texas Panhandle at $106-$107. Dressed trade in Nebraska, and early sales in the western Corn Belt were $5 higher at $170. Cattle futures softened Friday, amid sluggish [...]

Negotiated cash fed cattle trade opened higher on Thursday, with live prices in the Texas Panhandle $3 higher than the previous week at $106/cwt. Cash optimism helped Cattle futures fade some early pressure and edge higher, although trade was sluggish and open interest continued to decline. Live Cattle futures closed an average of 33¢ [...]

Negotiated cash fed cattle trade remained undeveloped through Thursday afternoon, but early indications appeared positive. For instance, 264 head of Choice 2-4 steers weighing an average of 1,402 lbs. brought an average of $108.16/cwt. at the fat auction in Tama, IA. Country trade in the region last week was at $104-$106. At Sioux Falls [...]