Tuesday markets
Corn traded just shy of the limit down, prompting feeder cattle higher while the cash cattle market continued its sideways trend.
The June live cattle futures contract was down slightly by 2 cents, closing at $116.72 and the August contract unchanged at $120.10.
Cash trade was active today with 23,915 head sold, far above the 13,575 head sold last week. Live steers sold between $118-120 and dressed steers sold between $188-192. On the formula side, 17,000 head averaging 837 lbs. sold for $193.25. A few early live purchases traded at $120 in the Texas Panhandle and from $119-120 in Kansas. In Nebraska, a few early live and dressed purchases traded at $120 and $191, respectively.
Wednesday’s weekly Central Stockyards’ auction will host 72 pens and 15,076 head of cattle, with 53 pens from the same feedlot in TX.
Today’s slaughter is projected to be 121,000 head, a thousand head above last week. Cassie Fish, market analyst of The Beef, stated all eyes will be on the weekly slaughter numbers as the talk is the weekly slaughter is expected to be 640-645,000 head.
“Bottom line, throughput is not adequate to clean up front-end market-ready fed cattle supplies and cattle will be carried over from May into June and June into July,” Fish wrote. “Of course, this year is nothing like last year’s nightmare backlog, but it is disappointing for those wanting to be bullish the second half of 2021 as cattle continue to be carried forward.”
Boxed beef traded higher with the Choice cutout up $2.09 to $329.92 and the Select closed 87 cents up to $304.29 on 97 loads.
Feeder cattle
The May feeder cattle contract was up 35 cents, closing at $136.62 and the August contract was higher $2.55 to $156.67. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was up $1.11 to $136.31.
“The feeder cattle complex would be in absolute heaven if the cash cattle market would show some encouraging signs as well,” wrote ShayLe Stewart, DTN livestock analyst, in her midday report. “But, in the meantime the market can joyfully rally as the pressure of high input costs has been more than burdensome since the dawning of the new year.”
The July corn contract closed 37 cents lower, closing at $ 6.20 a bushel and the September contract closed down 27 cents to $5.41. The weekly Crop Progress report shows 90 percent of corn is planted, 10 percent above the five-year average.
Iowa: Russell Livestock in Russell sold 3,204 head on Monday. Compared to the last auction, steer calves under 600 lbs. sold $6-7 higher, steers over 600 lbs. mainly were $2-7 higher. Heifer calves under 600 lbs. were mostly $6-9 higher, while those over 600 lbs. sold steady to $6 higher. Benchmark steers averaging 763 lbs. sold between $148.75-153.50.
New Mexico: Roswell Livestock in Roswell sold 1,017 head on Monday. Compared to the previous auction, steer calves under 600 lbs. sold $1-2 lower, feeders over 600 lbs. were $3-9 higher on comparable quotes. Heifer calves under 500 lbs. sold $4 lower, calves and feeders over 500 lbs. were $2 higher, with instances of $6 higher on 600-650 lbs. offerings. A small group of steers averaging 626 lbs. sold between $151.00-163.00.
South Dakota: Sioux Falls Regional Cattle Auction in Worthington sold 5,819 head on Monday. Compared to the previous auction, feeder steers sold $1-4 higher except 700-750 lbs. were steady to $2 lower and 800-850 lbs. sold steady to $1 higher. Heifers were steady to $2 higher, with the exception of 550-600 lbs. sold $3-6 higher. Benchmark steers averaging 769 lbs. sold between $137.50-154 and averaged $147.55. — Charles Wallace, WLJ editor
