By Friday’s end, the livestock contracts were able to walk away from the market with a mostly higher conclusion. But heading into next week’s market, the live cattle and lean hog contracts will again be looking for support as their markets are wavering.
The live cattle market had a snappy close come Friday, but throughout the earlier part of the week the market struggled. Both traders and feedlots look at the market and see that there’s some fundamental weakness arising— mainly stemming from this week’s inability to trade cash cattle higher.
June was a productive month for the market, but as we welcome July and anticipate what it may bring, hot temperatures, rising inflation, a weakening cash cattle market and growing showlists isn’t a combination that yields peace of mind.
August live cattle closed $2.02 higher at $134.60, October live cattle closed $1.20 higher at $139.97 and December live cattle closed $0.90 higher at $145.77.
Throughout the week Southern live business was marked at mostly $138, steady to roughly $1 lower than last week’s weighted averages. Northern dressed deals were marked at mostly $234, not quite $1 lower than last week’s weighted average. Colorado live sales were at $145, steady with last week’s weighted average.
Friday’s slaughter is estimated at 121,000 head—1,000 head less than a week ago and 7,000 head more than a year ago. Saturday’s slaughter is projected at 16,000 head. The week’s estimated weekly total amounts to 636,000 head – 30,000 head less than a week ago and 8,000 head more than a year ago.
Boxed beef prices closed lower: choice down $0.18 ($263.82) and select down $0.10 ($240.47) with a movement of 101 loads (56.06 loads of choice, 26.21 loads of select, 12.18 loads of trim and 6.59 loads of ground beef).
Throughout the week choice cuts averaged $265.70 (down $0.35 from the previous week) and select cuts averaged $242.08 (down $3.73 from the previous week) and with a total movement of cuts, grinds, and trim totaling 573 loads.
If this past week didn’t encourage cow-calf producers, then they sorely missed out on an opportunity to feel excited about what the market could develop into later this year and into 2023.
As the corn complex fell nearly all throughout the week, the feeder cattle charged higher despite the mixed nature of the live cattle market. By Friday’s end, the corn complex had closed anywhere from $0.07 to $0.12 lower, and throughout the entire week, the September corn contract alone fell $0.63.
Buyers ran to sales this past week as they wanted to get their needs taken care of before the 4th of July weekend and with the combination of more buyers in the market and lower corn, prices were stellar. August feeders closed $0.90 higher at $174.50, September feeders closed $1.42 higher at $177.65 and October feeders closed $1.77 higher at $180.45.
At Mitchell Livestock Auction in Mitchell, South Dakota compared to last week steers weighing 1,050 to 1,099 pounds traded $5.00 lower. Heifers weighing 800 to 850 pounds traded $9.00 higher, and heifers weighing 850 to 1,000 pounds traded $2.00 to $3.00 stronger. The CME feeder cattle index 6/30/2022: down $0.77, $165.67. — ShayLe Stewart, DTN livestock analyst
