Cattle futures supported by higher boxed beef

At the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, live and feeder cattle were up ahead of widespread direct cash business and higher boxed beef during the session. August live cattle closed $2.00 higher at $188.90 and October lives closed $2.32 higher at $188.60. August feeder cattle closed $1.50 higher at $258.62 and September feeders closed $1.20 higher at $257.90.

There was a light round of direct cash cattle business Thursday. Deals in the South were at $190 live, about $2 higher than the previous week’s business. The North was quiet as bids nor asking prices surfaced Thursday. Look for some business to hold out until sometime Friday.

At the Hub City Livestock Auction in South Dakota, there weren’t comparable sales, so an accurate price trend wasn’t available. The day’s offering was made up of a couple of strings and a handful of packages. There was more flesh overall on the cattle and quality varied from plain to attractive. The market was active. Receipts were up on the week and the year. Feeder supply included 77% steers and 100% of the offering was over 600 pounds. Medium and Large 1 feeder steers 820 to 842 pounds brought $257.75 and feeder steers 904 to 935 pounds brought $241.50 to $255.75. Medium and Large 1 feeder heifers 769 to 779 pounds brought $245 to $248 and feeder heifers 863 to 886 pounds brought $234 to $241.75.

Boxed beef closed mixed on light to moderate demand for moderate offerings. Choice was $.22 lower at $312.46 and Select closed $1.15 higher at $295.11. The Choice/Select spread is $17.35. Estimated cattle slaughter was 120,000 head – up 5,000 on the week and down about 4,000 on the year.