Thursday markets
Cattle futures are setting new contract and record highs as boxed beef and cash cattle prices remain strong.
“Methodical. Grinding. Orderly. Relentless,” wrote Cassie Fish, market analyst, for The Beef. “All can be used to describe the CME cattle futures summer of 2025 rally. At this point, even bulls are in awe of this uptrend. Many if not all of the fundamental factors that have been considered ‘bearish’ in other years are irrelevant in 2025. That would include record carcass weights, record number of cattle with 150 days on feed or more and huge beef imports.”
Live cattle futures rose over $2 today, with the August contract gaining $2.45 to $238.75 and the October contract up $2.57 to close at $232.22.
Cash trade has yet to develop, with only 716 head sold.
On the formula side, 36,800 head averaging 919 lbs. sold for an average of $379.41.
“It will be especially interesting to see what develops this week in the fed cash cattle market as though packers were able to buy some supply last week and commit those cattle to the nearby delivery option, they still need to stay engaged enough in the market to avoid being short bought in the weeks ahead and feedlot managers haven’t been easy for packers to deal with in recent weeks either,” ShayLe Stewart, DTN livestock analyst, wrote in her midday comments.
Today’s slaughter is estimated to be 115,000 head, 7,000 head above a week earlier.
Actual slaughter for the week ending July 26 was 553,766 head. The average steer dressed weight was 941 lbs., 6 lbs. above the prior week.
Boxed beef prices closed higher on 70 loads, with the Choice cutout up $4.08 to $378.94 and the Select cutout up $2.39 to $353.75.
USDA’s Weekly Export report for the week ending July 31 showed beef net sales of 15,900 metric tons (mt) for 2025 were up 88% from the previous week and 40% from the prior four-week average. The three largest buyers were Japan (6,100 mt), South Korea (4,000 mt) and Mexico (1,800 mt).
Feeder cattle
Feeder cattle continued their gains this week, with the August contract up $3.62 to $345.65 and the September contract rose $5.40 to close at $349.62.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index was up 18 cents to $336.21.
Corn futures closed higher, with the September contract up 4 cents to $3.84 and the December contract up 5 cents to $4.07.
Kansas: Winter Livestock in Dodge City sold 588 head on Wednesday. Compared to the last auction, steers over 800 lbs. sold $20 higher and heifers over 800 lbs. sold $8 higher. Steers and heifers under 800 lbs. sold $40-60 higher. Benchmark steers averaging 789 lbs. sold for $347.25.
Oklahoma: OKC West in El Reno sold 6,515 head on Wednesday. Compared to the last auction, feeder steers sold $1-3 higher. Feeder heifers traded $1-5 higher. Benchmark steers averaging 764 lbs. sold for $345-362, averaging $353.09.
Wyoming: Torrington Livestock in Torrington sold 705 head on Wednesday. As this was the first sale of the fall run, an accurate comparison could not be made. Benchmark steers averaging 758 lbs. sold for $361-372, averaging $367.51. — Charles Wallace, WLJ contributing editor
