Cattle Current Podcast—Jan. 28, 2021

Negotiated cash fed cattle trade was at a standstill in Kansas and the Northern Plains through Wednesday afternoon, according to the Agricultural Marketing Service. Elsewhere, trade was mostly inactive on light demand, with too few transactions to trend. With that said, early indications point toward higher prices.

Cattle feeders offered 1,570 head (11 lots) in Central Stockyard’s weekly Fed Cattle Exchange Auction, all from the Southern Plains. Of those, 1,128 head (seven lots) sold for a weighted average price of $112.97/cwt. ($112.95 for steers and $113.00 for heifers). The marketing method included both live weight and Bid-the-Grid™. Country trade in the region last week was at $110-$111.

Also, slaughter steers and heifers traded $3-$4 higher in the fat auction at Sioux Falls Regional, where 128 head of Choice 3-4 steers brought an average price of $110.06. That’s at the top end of the $105-$110 paid in country trade last week.

Cattle futures closed lower Wednesday with Live Cattle pressured by the lack of cash direction and lower outside markets, while Feeder Cattle continued to adjust to the rebound in Corn futures.

Live Cattle futures closed an average of 54¢ lower.

Feeder Cattle futures closed an average of 92¢ lower, from 2¢ lower in the spot contract to $1.67 lower at the back.

Choice boxed beef cutout value was 66¢ higher Wednesday afternoon at $229.66/cwt. Select was $1.66 higher at $218.99.

Corn futures closed 1¢ to 2¢ lower, except for fractionally higher to 1¢ higher in the front three contracts.

Soybean futures closed 2¢ to 4¢ higher through Sep ‘21 and then mostly 3¢ to 5¢ lower.