Cattle firmed up after an initially weak start on Monday. Futures were still down by 5 to 60 cents for the close. The front month feeder cattle futures closed Monday with a 5 cent gain in the May contract though 27 to 67 cent losses in the other front months. USDA confirmed Friday cash sales near $172-$173. USDA reported 6k head were sold in the OKC auction, including 63% steer and 37% heifer, and including 66% sub-600#s. The 1/19 CME Feeder Cattle Index was $1.25 firmer to $228.51.
The monthly CoF data from NASS had 11.93m head in 1,000+ capacity feedlots on Jan 1. That was a 2.1% increase from last year and matched estimates. The 1.704m head placed in December were 4.5% below Dec ’22, as expected. Marketings were slightly below the trade average guess @ 1.725m head, or -0.9% from the year prior.
USDA’s Wholesale Boxed Beef prices for Monday afternoon were listed at $298.67 in Choice and $286.58 for Select. That was up by $3.17 and by $3.53 respectively. The rib primals were $458.23 for Choice and $414.61 for Select. Federally inspected cattle slaughter was estimated at 115k head for Monday, up from 112k last week but 8k head below the same Monday last year.
Feb 24 Cattle closed at $173.775, down $0.600,
Apr 24 Cattle closed at $176.900, down $0.475,
Jun 24 Cattle closed at $174.275, down $0.050,
Mar 24 Feeder Cattle closed at $231.275, down $0.675
Apr 24 Feeder Cattle closed at $237.105, down $0.375
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