Cattle futures climbed higher Wednesday, suggesting a bottom may have been established.
Toward the close, Live Cattle futures were an average of $4.63 higher. Feeder Cattle futures were an average of $8.06 higher.
Negotiated cash fed cattle trade ranged from limited on moderate demand in the North to inactive on light to moderate demand in the Southern Plains through Wednesday afternoon, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
So far this week, FOB live prices are $9 lower in the Texas Panhandle at $215/cwt., mostly $8 lower in Nebraska at mainly $210 and $7-$8 lower in the western Corn Belt at $208-$210. Dressed delivered prices are $10-$15 lower in Nebraska at $330 and $12-$17 lower in the western Corn Belt at $328-$330.
FOB live prices in Kansas last week were $222-$224.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was $1.81 lower Wednesday afternoon at $368.28/cwt. Select was 42¢ lower at $355.51.
Grain and Soybean futures continued higher Wednesday, supported by an apparent slowing in farmer selling.
Toward the close and through Jly contracts, Corn futures were 6¢ to 9¢ higher. KC HRW Wheat futures were 2¢ to 4¢ higher. Soybean futures were 5¢ to 7¢ higher.
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Major U.S. financial indices closed higher again on Wednesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 314 points higher. The S&P 500 closed 46 points higher. The NASDAQ was up 189 points.
Though mid-afternoon, West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures (CME) were 52¢ to 61¢ higher through the front six contracts.
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Last week’s USDA Cattle on Feed report indicated there were 4.36 million heifers on feed Oct. 1. That was 245,000 fewer heifers than a year earlier and the fewest for the month since 2018, according to the Livestock Marketing Information Center.
However, David Anderson, Extension livestock economist at Texas A&M University notes last year’s inventory included spayed heifers from Mexico.
“Over the April-September 2024 period, 266,559 spayed heifers were imported. So the decline in heifers on feed reflects no imported heifers from Mexico and any decline in domestic placements in feedlots,” Anderson explains in the latest issue of In the Cattle Markets. “The expectation is that fewer spayed heifers would have been imported this year compared to last year but, considering imports, the report doesn’t indicate much heifer retention.”