NATIONAL FEEDER & STOCKER CATTLE SUMMARY – WEEK ENDING 10/05/2024
By USDA-MO Dept of Ag Market News
RECEIPTS: Auctions Direct Video/Internet Total
This Week: 179,400 38,400 24,300 242,100
Last Week: 173,500 40,800 6,100 220,400
Year Ago: 190,400 50,200 34,600 275,200
Compared to last week, steers and heifers sold uneven; 3.00 lower to 3.00 higher. Demand was moderate to good, with the best demand on weaned preconditioned calves with all the bells and whistles.
The receipts out of the Hurricane Helene battered Southeast were not up to par with historic numbers this week, however hope is that storm damaged areas can get back to some type of normal in the weeks to come. Some won’t as their homes and livelihoods were washed away when over 40 trillion of gallons of water fell from the sky during Helene and a normal rainstorm that preceded it.
Most cattle feeders are busy with harvest and aren’t quite ready to take on a bawling calf as the hot days and cool nights along with the dusty conditions make it difficult to keep calves healthy. The sizeable groups of spring calves in the Northern Plains will be arriving at auctions in the upcoming weeks as hot and dry weather conditions have persisted across the region. Some producers will just be taking the “send them” attitude as years of drought have taught them to market their calves quickly. The drought conditions in that area are causing producers to make some difficult decisions moving forward concerning cow herds and stocking rates.
Good demand for yearlings as the supply gets tighter and the cattle futures complex had a good week and made solid gains. The bearishness that was present in the futures contracts, that was weighing down the market, has eased currently as the futures have seemed to find a support level. The last four weeks, the CME Cattle Complex has turned around from the August slump as Live Cattle contracts are 11.00 to 12.00 higher while the front three Feeder Cattle Contracts have been around 19.00 to 21.00 higher in the same period. Year-to-Date auction receipts on this report are near 420K below a year and over 500K less than the previous 3-year average.
Live sales of negotiated cash fed cattle trade in the Southern Plains sold 1.00 higher at 186.00. In Nebraska, live sales sold steady to 1.00 higher at 187.00, while the dressed sales sold 2.00 higher at 296.00.
Choice boxed beef closed the week 5.89 higher at 302.58 while Select was 5.53 higher at 287.61 for the same period.
Weekly Cattle Slaughter under federal inspection estimated at 611K, 1K less than last week and 16K less than a year ago.
Auction volume this week included 52% weighing over 600 lbs and 41% heifers.
