Live cattle futures are experiencing a rally, with contracts increasing by $2.00 to $2.75 as of midday Friday. Limited cash trade has been reported this week, with Southern bids around $225 and some Northern trades at $235. The Friday morning Fed Cattle Exchange online auction had no sales out of 928 head offered, with bids at $225 in Kansas. Feeder cattle have also seen gains of $2.45 to $2.70, while the CME Feeder Cattle Index rose to $321.84.
A recent USDA monthly WASDE update indicates that expected beef production for 2025 will drop by 170 million pounds, adjusting the full year estimate to 26.188 billion pounds. Meanwhile, production for 2026 is projected to rise by 540 million pounds compared to last month, reaching 25.815 billion pounds.
Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were mixed, with Choice boxes down $1.11 at $383.55 and Select boxes up $1.52 at $372.38 per cwt. Estimated cattle slaughter for Thursday was 115,000 head, totaling 464,000 head for the week, which is 8,000 head below last week and 15,228 head lower than the same week last year.
