Cattle futures closed higher for the third consecutive trading session, helped along by a couple of days of higher Choice boxed beef cutout value and chatter about steady cash fed cattle trade this week.
Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of $1.40 higher.
Live Cattle futures closed an average of $1.18 higher (70¢ to $1.50 higher).
Negotiated cash fed cattle trade ranged from mostly inactive on light demand to a standstill through Tuesday afternoon, with too few transactions to trend, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
Last week, FOB live were $171/cwt. in the Southern Plains at $171/cwt., $169-$171 in Nebraska and $168-$171 in the western Corn Belt. Dressed delivered prices were $267-$272 in Nebraska and $268-$270 in the western Corn Belt.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was $2.35 higher Tuesday afternoon at $292.78/cwt. Select was 88¢ lower at $258.66/cwt.
Kansas City Wheat futures closed 20¢ to 24¢ higher on likely short covering.
Corn futures closed fractionally higher to 3¢ higher through Jly ’25.
Soybean futures closed 6¢ to 12¢ lower, likely pressured by profit taking.
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Major U.S. financial indices closed higher Tuesday, with further evidence of cooling inflation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 173 points higher. The S&P 500 closed 21 points higher. The NASDAQ was up 100 points.
West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures (CME) closed $2.43 to $2.71 lower through the front six contracts.
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Approximately 84% of all U.S. farm and ranch households earn the majority of
their total household income from off-farm sources, often using off-farm income to cover a portion of the operation’s expenses, according to the recently published 2023 edition of America’s Farms and Ranches at a Glance from USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS).
Among highlights, based on 2022…
- 97% of U.S. farms were family farms, accounting for 90% of farm production.
- Small family farms (gross cash farm income — GCFI — less than $350,000) made up 88% percent of the farm count, operated 46% of the farmland and generated 19% of the total value of production.
- Large-scale family farms (GCFI of $1 million or more) accounted for 7.1% of operations, 25% of the farmland and 52% of the total value of production.
- 26% of the value of beef production occurred on small family farms; 50% on large-scale operations.
- Small family farms produced 53% of hay.