Lackluster interest in Cattle futures carried over from last week.
Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of 92¢ lower.
Live Cattle futures closed an average of 39¢ lower.
Negotiated cash fed cattle trade ranged from mostly inactive on very light demand to a standstill through Monday afternoon, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service.
Last week, live prices were $154-$155/cwt. in the Texas Panhandle, $155 in Kansas, $157-$158 in Nebraska and $155-$157 in the western Corn Belt. Dressed prices were $245.
Choice Boxed beef cutout value was $2.70 higher Monday afternoon at $254.53/cwt. Select was $5.84 lower at $228.53/cwt.
Corn futures closed mostly fractionally higher.
Soybean futures closed 19¢ to 21¢ higher through Aug ‘23 and then 12¢ to 16¢ higher, supported by chatter about OPEC cutting production.
******************************
Major U.S. financial indices closed lower Monday with pressure from weekend COVID-policy demonstrations in China raising supply chain concerns.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 497 points lower. The S&P 500 closed 62 points lower. The NASDAQ was down 176 points.
West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures (CME) closed 61¢ to 96¢ higher through the front six contracts.
******************************
Year-to-date beef cow and beef heifer slaughter represent the steepest decline of female beef cattle inventories in more than three decades, says Derrell Peel, Extension livestock marketing specialist at Oklahoma State University, in his weekly market comments.
Specifically, beef cow slaughter is up 12.3% year over year, Peel says. “If beef cow slaughter were to decline to equal year-ago levels for the remaining weeks of the year, total beef cow slaughter for the year would be up 10.5% year over year,” Peel explains. “This would be a net beef cow herd culling rate of 13.1% for the year, a new record level. The actual culling rate is likely to be a little higher.”
Weekly beef cow slaughter has been higher year over year for 70 consecutive weeks, according to Peel. During that time, he says there were only four weeks when the year-over-year increase was less than 3%. Beef cow slaughter was 2.7%, according to the latest weekly data.
Peel points out beef heifer slaughter remains higher year over year, as well.
“The Oct. 1 quarterly Cattle on Feed report showed that the number of heifers in feedlots was still up 1.7% year over year,” Peel says. “Since that report, weekly heifer slaughter has continued to be up over 4% year over year with the most recent week up 5.8% over the same week one year ago.” He adds that lower feedlot placements in October presumably mean fewer heifers entering feedlots and reduced heifer slaughter in the future.
“With drought continuing, it is not clear what to expect for cow and heifer slaughter going forward,” Peel says. “It seems likely that many producers have adjusted herd inventories, given hay and feed supplies, to be able get through the winter. This might mean that cow culling will slow down through the winter. If La Niña persists next spring, more liquidation can be expected going into the next growing season.”