Cattle futures up to start the week

At the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, live and feeder cattle were higher ahead of the week’s business and Friday’s On Feed numbers from the USDA. February live cattle closed $1.00 higher at $230.55 and April live cattle closed $.63 higher at $230.02. January feeder cattle closed $.82 higher at $339.92 and March feeder cattle closed $.77 higher at $334.85.

Direct cash cattle trade was quiet, typical for a Monday. Showlists for the week are lower across all major feeding areas. Bids and asking priced didn’t surface. Significant trade volume will likely be delayed until the back half of the week.

At mid-session at the Oklahoma National Stockyards, feeder steers were $4 to $8 higher. Feeder heifers were steady to $3 higher. The USDA says demand was moderate to good for feeder cattle. Steer calves were $5 to $10 lower and heifer calves were $10 to $20 lower. The USDA says demand was moderate, at best, for calves. Quality overall was mostly average with some attractive. Receipts were up on the week and the year. Feeder supply included 58 percent steers with 56 percent of the offering weighed more than 600 pounds. Medium and Large 1 feeder steers 600 to 644 pounds brought $382 to $419 and feeder steers 653 to 697 pounds brought $363 to $401. Medium and Large 1 feeder heifers 557 to 599 pounds brought $360 to $402.50 and feeder heifers 651 to 699 pounds brought $337 to $370.

Boxed beef closed sharply higher with solid demand for moderate offerings. Choice was $2.02 higher at $359.46 and Select closed $3.08 higher at $347.30. The Choice/Select spread is $12.16. Estimated cattle slaughter was 110,000 head, down 5,000 on the week and down nearly 7,000 on the year.

Lean hog futures closed mostly lower on spread trade and technical weakness. February lean hogs closed $.67 lower at $83.85 and April lean hogs closed $.60 lower at $88.92.

Cash hogs closed higher with a fairly light negotiated run. Processors were more aggressive in their procurement efforts and bid up to move desired numbers. The industry continues to monitor demand, globally there are a lot of questions that are lingering. However, as pork remains a competitively priced protein in the retail space, that’s likely providing support to the domestic market. Barrows and gilts at the National Daily Direct closed $1.40 higher at $70 to $74 and a weighted average of $72.68; the Iowa/Minnesota closed $.31 higher with a weighted average of $71.68; the Western Corn Belt closed $.52 higher with a weighted average of $71.89. Prices at the Eastern Corn were not reported due to confidentiality.