Cattle futures closed higher Wednesday with prospects of higher cash trade again this week.
Live Cattle futures closed an average of $1.42 higher ($1.17 to $2.10 higher) amid heavy volume.
Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of $1.84 higher ($1.30 higher at the front to $2.17 higher at the back).
Negotiated cash fed cattle trade was at a standstill through Wednesday afternoon, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
Last week, FOB live prices were $185-$186/cwt. Dressed delivered prices were $292-$300 in Nebraska and $292 in the western Corn Belt.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was 77¢ lower Wednesday afternoon at $309.82/cwt. Select was $1.44 higher at $301.04/cwt.
Corn futures closed mostly fractionally higher.
KC HRW Wheat futures closed 4¢ to 9¢ lower.
Soybean futures closed mostly fractionally lower to 1¢ lower.
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Major U.S. financial indices closed mixed Wednesday, led by tech stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 37 points higher. The S&P 500 closed 9 points lower. The NASDAQ was 87 points lower.
West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures (CME) closed $1.69 to $2.16 higher through the front six contracts.
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Concentration in the cattle feeding sector continues to increase with fewer feedlots overall while the largest feedlots account for more annual sales, according to the recently published 2022 Census of Agriculture.
“Only 22,613 farms had cattle on feed in inventory at the start of 2022, down from 25,776 farms in 2017,” says Matthew Diersen, risk and business management specialist at South Dakota State University in the latest issue of In the Cattle Markets. “Farms with 1 to 19 head on feed stayed constant in number, likely retained ownership for local consumption instead of a budding enterprise. The number of farms in the other small inventory levels, 20 to 999 head, all had significant declines, similar to or driving the overall decline in farms with cattle on feed.
On the other end of the spectrum, Diersen says feedlots with the largest inventory levels (1,000-2,499 head and 2,500 head or more) were relatively constant with more cattle on feed than in 2017.
Diersen points out the Census also provides a breakdown of custom fed cattle by state.
“While the U.S. saw fewer feedlots with custom feeding — 853 in 2022 versus 1,070 in 2017 — the aggregate number sold was higher at 10.1 million head in 2022,” Diersen says. “Kansas feedlots had the most head custom fed, followed by Nebraska, then Texas. Iowa led states with 155 farms with custom feeding.”