NATIONAL FEEDER & STOCKER CATTLE SUMMARY – WEEK ENDING 09/21/2024
By USDA-MO Dept of Ag Market News
RECEIPTS: Auctions Direct Video/Internet Total
This Week: 180,600 61,000 38,900 280,500
Last Week: 220,300 50,400 39,700 310,400
Year Ago: 196,800 40,300 49,300 286,400
Compared to last week, steers and heifers sold uneven; 2.00 lower to 2.00 higher. Moderate to good demand for yearling steers and heifers, best demand for those coming straight off grass in that highly desirable, light flesh condition.
Drought conditions continue to intensify nationwide as the drought monitor now shows over 70% of the country in drought status. The last time the monitor spiked over 70% drought was the fall/winter of 2022 when it ran up to 85% of the country in drought status.
With the official arrival of fall, temperature swings are once again making calves with no vaccination or weaning programs a high-risk venture and these calves are seeing increasing discounts each day, while those that have received more attention and work generally sold higher this past week. Lighter calves were mostly in small drafts and odds and ends with very few drafts of any size making buyers work to put loads together. Lighter weight calves found demand that was directly proportional to the anticipated health risk associated with each offering.
Receipts on this report continue to lag behind historical numbers as Year-to-Date auction receipts are near 400K behind a year ago. Twenty-three weeks of receipts out of 38 on this report so far this year were lower than the previous year.
The Cattle on Feed report was released on Friday with values coming in at expectations. September 1 On Feed number was at 101% , Placements were at 99% and Marketings were at 96%.
The CME Cattle Complex put together 2 weeks’ worth of gains back-to-back. Live Cattle futures were mostly 7.00 to 8.00 higher in the last couple of weeks, while the Feeder Cattle futures were 10.00 to 13.00 higher in the same period.
Live sales of negotiated cash fed cattle trade in the Southern Plains sold 2.00 to 3.00 higher at 183.00. In Nebraska, live sales sold 2.00 to 4.00 higher at 184.00 to 185.00, while the dressed sales sold unevenly steady at 290.00 to 292.00.
Choice boxed beef closed the week 4.72 lower at 300.19 while Select was 5.58 lower at 288.59 for the same period.
Weekly Cattle Slaughter under federal inspection estimated at 610K, 10K less than last week and 17K less than a year ago.
Auction volume this week included 59% weighing over 600 lbs and 42% heifers.
