Live Cattle futures were an average of 23¢ lower, except for an average of 24¢ higher in three contracts, with pressure from early cash weakness in the South.
Feeder Cattle futures were an average of $1.23 lower, pressured by lower Live Cattle and higher Corn.
Negotiated cash fed cattle trade ranged from slow on light demand in Kansas to a standstill elsewhere through Wednesday afternoon, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service. Although too few to trend, there were some early live FOB trades in Kansas at $180/cwt.
Last week, FOB live prices were $183 in the Texas Panhandle, $182-$183 in Kansas, $184 in Nebraska and $183-$185 in the western Corn Belt. Dressed delivered prices were $288-$292.
Choice boxed beef cutout value was 93¢ higher Wednesday afternoon, at $311.60/cwt. Select was 72¢ lower at $299.39.
Grain and Soybean futures continued to rally Wednesday with likely short covering and thoughts forecast yield increases might be less than expected.
Toward the close and through Jly ’25 contracts, Corn futures were 3¢ to 5¢ higher. Kansas City Wheat futures were 15¢ to 16¢ higher. Soybean futures were mostly 8¢ to 9¢ higher.
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Major U.S. financial indices wavered near steady Wednesday, following the previous session’s selloff tied to manufacturing weakness.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 38 points higher. The S&P 500 closed 8 points lower. The NASDAQ was down 52 points.
At midafternoon, West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures on the CME were 92¢ to $1.03 lower through the front six contracts.
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Beef x dairy production continues to increase as dairy producers use sexed semen to produce more replacement dairy heifers and beef semen on the rest of their herds to add market value to terminal calves. However, the relative contribution of dairy to domestic beef production remains static, says Derrell Peel, extension livestock marketing specialist at Oklahoma State University, in his weekly market comments.
“The dairy herd is relatively stable and has only varied by 130,000 head, or 1.4%, from maximum to minimum in the last 10 years,” Peel explains. “The dairy industry contributes an average of roughly 26% of the total U.S. calf crop each year. The contribution of the dairy industry to beef production does not change significantly year to year although the relative share of dairy in beef production increases slightly when the beef industry declines cyclically. Growth in production of beef x dairy crossbred calves does not represent any net additional production of cattle but rather a change in the genetic composition of dairy calf production.”
Peel points out beef x dairy calves are included in commonly available cattle inventory and beef production data.
“Beef x dairy calf production is not having much impact on total beef production and market prices beyond what is already considered in market analysis,” Peel says. “There are some impacts in specific meat markets because the beef cuts from beef x dairy carcasses may have access to markets previously closed to dairy beef. Arguably, the biggest impact of beef x dairy production is the blurring of the historical demarcation between beef and dairy sectors in the U.S.”