Cattle futures mostly higher to finish the week

At the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, live and feeder cattle were mostly higher with boxed beef up at midday, waiting on direct business to develop. October live cattle closed $.20 lower at $218.87 and December live cattle closed $1.05 higher at $222.15. October feeder cattle closed $3.17 higher at $334.92 and November feeder cattle closed $3.90 higher at $331.97.

Heading into the end of the week, direct cash cattle business was overall, mostly quiet. Sellers appeared to be holding out for better money. There were some deals reported at $350 dressed in Nebraska, but numbers weren’t substantial.

At the Winter Livestock Auction in Kansas, feeder steers 650 to 950 pounds sold $3 to $8 lower, however load lots of fancy steers sold $10 to $15 higher. Feeder heifers 650 pounds to 1,000 pounds were $3 to $12 higher. Steer and heifer calves 400 to 650 pounds sold $15 to $20 higher. The USDA says demand was good for fancy steers and heifers. Receipts were up on the week and the year. Feeder supply included 58 percent steers with 77 percent of the offering weighed more than 600 pounds. Medium and Large 1 feeder steers 651 to 693 pounds brought $368 to $386 and feeder steers 857 to 895 pounds brought $321 to $333. Medium and Large 1 feeder heifers 656 to 684 pounds brought $358.50 to $363 and feeder heifers 868 to 899 pounds brought $295.20 to $300.

Boxed beef was sharply higher with solid demand for moderate offerings. Choice was $2.71 higher at $378.83 and Select was $3.66 higher at $355.76. The Choice/Select spread was $23.07. Estimated cattle slaughter was 87,000 head, down 14,000 on the week and down more than 4,000 on the year. Saturday’s estimated kill is 8,000 head, even on the week and up about 7,500 on the year.