Cattle Margins Exceed $400; Pork Hold Above $40

Negotiated cash cattle sold $2 per cwt. higher last week and feedyard margins gained $32 per head for an industry average profit of $406. Meanwhile, beef packers saw their margins improve $18 per head with losses of $84 the industry average, according to the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker. That puts the packer/feeder margin spread at $490 per head in favor of the feeder.

Cash cattle averaged $191.39 per cwt. the week ending May 25, while composite wholesale beef prices posted $5.99 per cwt. gains to close at $308.12 per cwt. The Beef and Pork Profit Trackers are calculated by Sterling Marketing, Vale, Ore.

Cattle sold last week carried a total feed cost of $373.44 per head, down $4.64 per head from the previous week, and about $198 less than feed costs for cattle sold the same week a year ago.

Cattle marketed last week had a breakeven of $162.38 per cwt., while cattle placed on feed last week have a breakeven of $185.68 per cwt., which is about $1 per cwt. highr than the previous week. Cattle placed last week are calculated to have a purchase price for 750-800 lb. feeder steers at $259.44 per cwt., or $3 per cwt. more than a month ago. The feeder steer price is 19% higher than last year.

The estimated total cost for finishing a steer last week was $2,273 per head, down $4 per head from the previous week and up 6% from last year’s estimate of $2,128 per head.