The cash cattle trade appears to be completed for the week after an active trade on Wednesday. Cash sales in Nebraska for the week totaled 50,248 head, Kansas 47,678, Iowa 41,057 and Texas 18,068 thorough 9:30 AM Thursday. Confirmed negotiated trades for the week total 187,789 head. Live basis steers and heifers traded from 95.00 to 98.00 and on a dressed basis at 150.00 to 154.00.The few cattle left on the show lists are priced around 99.00 to 100.00 in the South and 155.00 plus in the North. Thursday’s cattle slaughter was estimated at 131,000 head, the same as last week and last year.
Boxed beef cutout values were weak to lower on moderate demand and moderate to heavy offerings. Choice boxed beef ended the day at 160.73 down .74, and select was 1.15 lower at 154.29.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle contracts settled 5 to 47 points lower Thursday on profit taking after Wednesday’s gains. Wholesale beef prices were lower again at midday and that added to the negativity in the market. There was some fund rolling out of October into December contracts associated with the Goldman Roll. October settled .35 lower at 96.90, and December was down .05 at 99.65.
Feeder cattle finished the session unchanged to 70 points lower on the gains in the corn pit, and spillover weakness from the live cattle contracts. September settled at 111.42 and October at 111.75 with both down .67.
Feeder cattle receipts at the Bassett Livestock Auction, Bassett, Nebraska totaled 3100 head on Wednesday. Compared with two weeks ago 700 to 800 pound steers traded 3.00 to 4.00 lower, 8 to 9 weights were steady to 2.00 higher, and over 900 pound offerings trended steady. Heifers sold 1.00 to 3.00 lower. Demand was good and the trade was moderate to active. 314 feeder steers medium and large 1 averaging 875 pounds traded at 111.40, 459 heifers weighing 878 averaged 105.81 per hundredweight.
Iowa/Minnesota barrows and gilts closed 2.85 higher at 83.20 on a carcass basis, the West was up 3.98 at 84.15, and the East was .66 lower at 78.49. The Missouri direct base carcass meat price is steady from 71.00 to 73.00. Thursday’s hog slaughter was estimated at 424,000 head, 19,000 more than last week, but 8,000 less than last year. Iowa barrows and gilts last week averaged 266.7 pounds, 1.1 pounds heavier than the previous week and .7 pounds lighter than 2009. Live weights should trend steadily higher for the next several months.
Pork trading was moderate, with light to moderate demand and offerings. The pork carcass cutout value was down .69 at 90.25.
Lean hogs settled higher on the gain in the pork carcass cutout value on Wednesday. The higher cash prices in the Midwest at midday gave an additional push to the futures market. December set a new contract high and several deferred months set new highs for the second day in a row. October ended 1.07 higher at 77.37, and December was up .87 at 75.12.
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