Cattle Lower through Midday

Front month live cattle futures are trading $0.60 to $0.72 in the red so far for the Wednesday session. There were again no sales for the Wednesday FCE auction. Bids on the 1,077 head offered were $141-$143 with asks mostly $143-$144. USDA reported live cattle sales from $143 - $145 on Tuesday with the bulk near $143. 

Feeder cattle futures are down by $0.60 to $1.17 on the board through midday. Prices are off their early session lows. USDA’s OKC Feeder Cattle Auction Summary showed moderate demand on some minor price weakness. The 9/26 CME Feeder Cattle Index was another 90 cents weaker to $177.82. 

Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were mixed on Wednesday morning with Choice $1.07 stronger nd Select down by $1.27. That widened the Chc/Sel spread to $26.83. USDA estimated Tuesday’s FI cattle slaughter at 128k head for a WTD pace of 253,000. Last week was running 255k through Tuesday, but the same week last year saw just 238k head.  

Oct 22 Cattle  are at $143.000, down $0.575,

Dec 22 Cattle  are at $146.150, down $0.750,

Feb 23 Cattle  are at $150.250, down $0.600,

Sep 22 Feeder Cattle  are at $175.075, down $0.625

Oct 22 Feeder Cattle  are at $174.850, down $1.275