Friday markets
“This past week has been incredibly frustrating for cattlemen and feedlot managers alike as they’ve tried and tried to market their cattle, but when the board lacks any positive movement and the corn market jumps limit higher, it’s hard not to sell cattle (even at lower prices),” remarked ShayLe Stewart, DTN livestock analyst, in her midday comments.
The April live cattle contract was lower 47 cents to $117.85 and the June contract was down 12 cents to $115.72.
“The concerning aspect about the market moving forward is that a plethora of cattle have been sold with delayed delivery, which will undermine the cash cattle market in the weeks to come regardless of what boxed beef prices do or how strong slaughter speeds are. Friday’s cash cattle market is as quiet a church mouse without any bids having been renewed at this point in the day,” Stewart wrote.
A total of 1,402 head sold on the cash market today, with steers selling between $120-121, much lower than 10,967 head sold last week. On the formula side, 19,900 head sold averaging 865 lbs. averaged $195.14.
Boxed beef prices were mixed today, with the Choice cutout up $1.46 to $283.77 and the Select cutout down $1.56 to $272.13 on 124 loads.
Slaughter for today is expected to be 113,000 head. Slaughter for Saturday is expected to be 74,000 head bringing the week’s expected slaughter to be 665,000 head, slightly above last week’s slaughter of 640,000 head. Actual slaughter for the same period the previous year was 470,000 head.
Feeder cattle
“The break in the corn rally has given the feeder cattle complex some relief as cattle buyers worked and re-worked their cost of gains this past week to adjust for the higher corn prices,” Stewart remarked.
Feeder cattle were green today, with the April contract trading up $1.60 to $133.85 and the May contract up 65 cents to $137.67. CME reported its latest Feeder Cattle Index down $1.17 to $136.36.
Corn contracts were up marginally, with the May contract up 5 cents to $6.55 a bushel and the June contract up a penny to $6.32.
The Cattle on Feed report was released today, showing cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market at 11.9 million head on April 1, 2021, 5 percent above last year. Placements in feedlots during March totaled 2 million head, 28 percent above 2020. Net placements were 1.94 million head. Marketings of fed cattle during March totaled 2.04 million head, 1 percent above 2020. — Charles Wallace, WLJ editor
