Live cattle futures slipped on Friday, retreating 82 cents at the close as the June contract fell for the week. June down $4.10 this week even as cash trade held mostly in a $256–260 cash range, with southern deals reported at $256–258 and northern trade at $258–260.
Feeder cattle futures finished lower overall, with front-month contracts down around $1.87 to $2.65 at the close while May advanced $1.05 on the session. August feeder futures were weaker on the week, losing about $7.95 over the same period.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index eased by $2.54 to $374.83 on May 7. Speculative traders added length to live cattle during the week of May 5, increasing their net long by 5,374 contracts to reach a position of Managed net long 141,965 contracts; in feeder cattle, specs added about 1,636 contracts to a net long of 18,725 on Tuesday.
Boxed beef and slaughter
Wholesale boxed beef values were higher in the Friday afternoon report, with Choice boxes up $1.45 to $388.39 and Select up $0.59 to $385.01, leaving a Choice-Select spread of $3.38 in favor of Choice. The stronger boxed-beef print contrasted with the futures pullback, keeping cash bids intact for many sellers.
USDA estimated federally inspected cattle slaughter for the week at 527,000 head through Saturday, down 7,000 head from the prior week. That weekly kill figure provides a current snapshot of plant throughput as markets adjust to both cash and boxed-beef signals.
Contract closings
Front-month and nearby futures closed mostly lower across contracts: Jun 26 Live Cattle at $248.900, down $1.150; Aug 26 Live Cattle at $244.100, down $1.800; Oct 26 Live Cattle at $238.300, down $1.675. In the feeder complex, May 26 Feeder Cattle closed at $367.375, up $1.050, while Aug 26 Feeder closed at $364.225, down $1.950, and Sep 26 Feeder at $362.225, down $2.425.
Photo - Man feeding cows on farm in cowshed by JackF via iStock
Photo - media.barchart.com
