Cattle futures closed higher Friday, helped along by stronger cash fed cattle prices to end the week, as well as weekly gains in Choice wholesale beef values.
Live Cattle futures closed an average of 56¢ higher. They were an average of $3.82 higher week to week on Friday.
Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of $2.07 higher. They were an average of $6.60 higher week to week.
Negotiated cash fed cattle trade ranged from slow on light demand to a standstill through Friday afternoon, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
For the week, FOB live prices were steady in the Southern Plains at $182/cwt., mostly $1-$2 higher in Nebraska at $184-$185 and steady to $2 higher in the western Corn Belt at $184-$186. Dressed delivered prices were $2 higher at $294-$295 in Nebraska and $294 in the western Corn Belt.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was 22¢ higher Friday afternoon at $297.14/cwt. Select was 94¢ lower at $288.72/cwt.
Estimated total cattle slaughter last week of 613,000 head was 7,000 head fewer than the previous week and 14,000 head fewer than the same week last year. Year-to-date estimated total cattle slaughter of 10.2 million head was 505,000 head fewer (-4.7%) than the same time last year. Year-to-date beef production of 8.5 billion pounds was 229.6 million pounds less (-2.6%).
Turning to row crops, KC HRW Wheat futures closed 11¢ to 14¢ higher. Corn futures closed mostly 1¢ to 3¢ lower. Soybean futures closed mixed, fractionally lower to 3¢ lower through Jan ’25 and then fractionally higher to 3¢ higher.
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Major U.S. financial indices closed higher Friday, supported by tech stocks and positive corporate earnings reports.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 153 points higher. The S&P 500 closed 51 point higher. The NASDAQ was up 316 points.
West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures on the CME closed 28¢ to 48¢ higher through the front six contracts.
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USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) issued its final rule for Animal Disease Traceability (ADT) Friday. For interstate movement, the rule requires official ear tags for certain classes of cattle and bison be readable both visually and electronically. The final rule applies to all sexually intact cattle and bison 18 months of age or older, all dairy cattle, cattle and bison of any age used for rodeo or recreation events, and cattle or bison of any age used for shows or exhibitions.
“USDA’s final traceability rule updates the existing requirement for animal identification that has been in place since 2013, switching from solely visual tags to tags that are both electronically and visually readable for certain classes of cattle moving interstate,” explains Mark Eisele, a Wyoming rancher and president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA). “Many producers are already familiar with using these visual tags and under the new rule, they will instead use electronic tags. NCBA has worked hard to secure $15 million in funding for producers to reduce the cost of implementing this change. We also remain committed to safeguarding producers’ private data and continuing to reduce the cost of ear tags for farmers and ranchers. Our industry faces a tremendous threat from the risk of a future foreign animal disease on American soil. To avoid devastating financial losses during a potential outbreak and to help producers quickly return to commerce, we need an efficient animal disease traceability system.”
APHIS is currently providing electronic ID tags at no cost to producers. Producers should contact their State Veterinarian to obtain the free tags. The rule will not take effect for six months to provide time for producers to prepare.
“Rapid traceability in a disease outbreak will not only limit how long farms are quarantined, keep more animals from getting sick, and help ranchers and farmers get back to selling their products more quickly – but will help keep our markets open,” says Michael Watson, APHIS Administrator.
One of the most significant benefits of the rule for farmers and ranchers will be the enhanced ability of the United States to limit impacts of animal disease outbreaks to certain regions, which is the key to maintaining our foreign markets, according to APHIS. By being able to readily prove disease-free status in non-affected regions of the nation, the U.S. will be able to request foreign trading partners recognize disease-free regions or zones instead of cutting off trade for the entire country. Traceability of animals is necessary to establish these disease-free zones and facilitate reestablishment of foreign and domestic market access with minimum delay in the wake of an animal disease event.
The final rule affects 11% of the U.S. cattle herd, according to NCBA.
More information is available at the APHIS ADT page.