Market News

Light pre-holiday livestock trade

Packer inquiry remained light on Wednesday with just several cattle buyers renewing bids in the North at 195.00 dressed. Some asking prices are around 131.00 to 135.00 in the South and 200.00 plus in the North. You would think cattle buyers really want to get their work done before breaking for the holiday but only time will tell if trade will wait until Friday. The cattle slaughter was estimated at 112,000 head, 4,000 more than last week, and 6,000 less than last year.

Boxed beef cutout values ended the day firm to higher on light to moderate demand and offerings. Choice beef was up .28 at 204.09, and select was 1.52 higher at 193.76.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle contracts settled higher on Wednesday. The futures held moderate gains as light support continued to trickle into the complex in very light pre-holiday trade. December settled at 130.95 up .79, and February was .62 higher at 133.12.

Feeder cattle contracts ended with black ink as the market battered back and forth during a lightly traded session. The focus of trade before the break appeared to be creating additional sluggish trade interest which may create additional softness in the market. January was up .30 at 164.97 and March was .12 higher at 163.12.

Feeder cattle receipts at the Philip, South Dakota Livestock Auction totaled 4145 head on Tuesday. There was no feeder cattle sale last week. Compared to two weeks ago most weights of feeder cattle were sharply lower. There was good demand for several long strings, load lots, and packages which sold on an active market. 784 head of feeder steers medium and large 1 weighing 570 pounds averaged 199.92 per hundredweight. 241 heifers averaging 580 pounds brought 169.10.

Slaughter cattle receipts at the Manchester, Iowa Livestock Auction on Tuesday totaled 587 head. Slaughter steers, heifers and Holsteins were all steady with last week. High yielding prime and choice steers and heifers traded from 121.00 to 126.50 per hundredweight. Holstein steers ranged from 111.00 to 118.50 at Manchester.

Lean hogs settled mostly higher as strong buying quickly stepped into the market based on firm cash support. Triple digit gains were seen early but only the nearby contract maintained those strong gains. Some deferred contracts finished lower. December was up 1.57 at 58.80, and February settled .57 higher at 58.07.

Barrows and gilts in the Iowa/Minnesota direct trade closed .01 lower at 51.89 weighted average on a carcass basis, the West was .17 lower at 51.69, and the East was down .18 at 49.78. Missouri direct base carcass meat price was 1.00 lower at 43.00. Midwest hogs on a live basis closed fully steady from 30.00 to 40.00.

The pork carcass cutout value was 1.90 lower at 71.22 FOB plant. All primal cuts were lower.

The hog kill was estimated by USDA at 440,000 head, 3,000 more than last week, and 19,000 more than last year.