Thursday markets
Higher corn prices yanked cattle futures lower.
“It’s been a rough day for cattle futures and even though the live cattle market isn’t seeing sharp losses like the feeder cattle contracts, their inability to rally a higher cash cattle market is equally as painful,” remarked ShayLe Stewart, DTN livestock analyst, in her midday comments.
The April live cattle contract was lower $1.45 to $118.32 and the June contract was down $1.40 to $115.85.
A total of 22,156 head sold on the cash market today, with steers selling between $118-122. Dressed steers sold between $190-195. On the formula side, 24,800 head sold averaging 856 lbs. averaged $195.24.
“In the midst of the futures fiasco, boxed beef prices continue to edge higher along with most raw materials as a multitude of pipelines are refilled as the economy normalizes. Packer margins this week will widen again and score the third consecutive week at or above $500 per head net,” Cassie Fish of The Beef wrote.
Boxed beef prices were higher today, with the Choice cutout up $1.85 to $282.31 and the Select cutout up $1.81 to $273.69 on 93 loads.
“Even though this week’s slaughter is running aggressively and most likely going to be around 650,000 to 660,000 head and boxed beef prices are higher than a year ago—feedlots don’t hold enough leverage in the current market to move the cash cattle market higher regardless of what the fundamentals are,” Stewart said.
Slaughter for today is expected to be 118,000 head, slightly above last week’s 114,000 head and well above last year’s COVID-impacted number of 82,000.
Feeder cattle
“With corn prices making hellacious jumps day in and day out, the feeder cattle contracts have been trading lower; but Thursday trade is sending the contracts sharply lower,” Stewart wrote.
The April feeder cattle contract was down $2.85 to $132.25 and the May contract traded down $2.57 to $137.02. CME reported its latest Feeder Cattle Index down 95 cents to $137.53.
The May and July corn contracts reached the daily limit of 25 cents higher. The May contract traded at $6.50 a bushel and the July contract was $6.31 a bushel, almost double last year’s prices, according to CME.
South Dakota: Hub City Livestock in Aberdeen sold 3,944 head on Wednesday. Compared to last week: steers 700-750 lbs. sold steady to $3 lower; 751-800 lbs. mainly were steady; 801-950 lbs. sold $2-4 lower with instances up to $8 lower on 850-900 lbs. Heifers 750-800 lbs. were mostly $2 lower, with other weight classes of heifers not well compared. Benchmark steers averaging 767 lbs. sold between $140.50-150.
Wyoming: Torrington Livestock in Torrington sold 2,073 head on Wednesday. Compared to last week, steer and heifer calves sold $3-5 lower on a lighter test than last week. Benchmark steers averaging 710 lbs. sold between $156.50-159. — Charles Wallace, WLJ editor
