Cattle futures closed higher Thursday, buoyed by stronger cash fed cattle prices.
Live Cattle futures closed an average of $1.11 higher.
Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of 84¢ higher (42¢ to $1.12 higher), except for unchanged in spot Mar.
Negotiated cash fed cattle trade in the Southern Plains through Thursday afternoon ranged from a standstill in the Texas Panhandle to slow on light to moderate demand in Kansas, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service. Although too few to trend, there were some early FOB live sales in Kansas at $186/cwt. Prices in the Southern Plains last week were $183.
Trade in the North ranged from slow on light to moderate demand in Nebraska to moderate on moderate demand in the western Corn Belt. FOB live prices were $1.50 to $2.00 higher in Nebraska at $185-$186 and $2 higher in the western Corn belt at $185-$186. Dressed delivered prices in both regions were $290 last week.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was $1.70 higher through Thursday afternoon at $306.61/cwt. Select was $1.17 higher at $296.26/cwt.
Grain and Soybean futures closed higher Thursday with apparent technical support and perhaps positioning ahead of Friday’s monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates.
Corn futures closed 7¢ to 9¢ higher through May ’25 and then mostly 4¢ to 6¢ higher.
KC HRW Wheat futures closed 10¢ to 18¢ higher.
Soybean futures closed 11¢ to 18¢ higher through Jan ’25 and then 6¢ to 7¢ higher.
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Major U.S. financial indices closed strongly higher Thursday, led by tech stocks and investor optimism about tamer inflation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 130 points higher. The S&P 500 closed 52 points higher. The NASDAQ was up 241 points.
West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures (CME) closed 20¢ lower to 11¢ higher through the front six contracts.
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The number of farms in the United States has fallen below 2 million for the first time since before the Civil War, according to the recently released 2022 Census of Agriculture, which USDA conducts every five years.
In 2022, there were 1,900,487 farms in the country, a 7% decline from the level reported in the 2017 Census. A farm is defined as an establishment that produced and sold, or would have sold in normal conditions, at least $1,000 in agricultural production in a year.
Total U.S. land in farms declined 2.2% to 880 million acres in 2022. Declining acres, combined with the higher proportional decline in the number of farms, meant that the average farm size increased by 5% to 463 acres per farm.