Cattle futures extended gains Tuesday. Before settlement, Live Cattle futures were an average of $1.21 higher. Feeder Cattle futures were an average of $1.72 higher.
Negotiated cash fed cattle trade ranged from slow on light demand to a standstill in all major cattle feeding regions through Tuesday afternoon, with too few transactions to trend, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
Last week, live FOB prices were steady to 50¢ higher in the Texas Panhandle at $188-$188.50/cwt. steady to $1 lower in Kansas at $187-$188 and $2 lower in the North at $196. Dressed delivered trades were $2 lower at $310/cwt.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was 23¢ lower Wednesday afternoon at $313.21/cwt. Select was $1.67 lower at $296.66/cwt.
Traders continued adding weather premium to Soybean futures Tuesday. Heading into the close, through Jly ’25 contracts, Soybean futures were mostly 4¢ to 7¢ higher. Corn futures were fractionally higher to 1¢ higher. Kansas City Wheat futures were 4¢ lower.
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Major U.S. financial indices closed little changed Tuesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 57 points lower. The S&P 500 closed 8 points lower. The NASDAQ was down 10 points.
Heading into the close, West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures on the CME were $1.08 to $1.12 lower through the front six contracts.
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Inventories of cattle on-feed longer than 90 and 120 days are above historical averages for several reasons, according to Rob Ziegler, Extension livestock economist at the University of Wyoming.
“Lower ration prices, coupled with high fed cattle prices, are incentives for producers to put weight on cattle,” Ziegler explains in the latest issue of In the Cattle Markets. “The increase in popularity of beef on dairy cattle, as shown by a reduction in veal, also contributes to increased days on feed.”
Although longer feeding periods and heavier carcasses have boosted beef production higher than originally anticipated, Ziegler notes third-quarter beef production is projected to be 5.6% less year over year.