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Live cattle futures closed with gains between 67 cents to $1.00 on August 25, 2023, with August posting an increase of $2.92 for the week. Cash cattle prices settled at $230-231 in the South and $240-242 in the North. The Friday Fed Cattle Exchange auction reported sales of $237.50 for 325 head from Kansas and $233 for 120 head in Texas. Feeder cattle futures also saw gains, closing with an increase of $2.47 to $2.65, making August’s weekly rise $7.37.
Cattle on Feed data revealed that June placements were down 7.86% year-over-year at 1.411 million head, while marketings were 1.707 million head, a 4.42% decline. The July 1 on-feed count stood at 11.195 million head, down 0.96% from the previous year. Total beef cow inventory decreased by 1.2% to 28.65 million head, and beef replacement heifers dropped 5.1% to 3.7 million head.
June beef stocks were recorded at 395.678 million lbs, a 2.98% decrease from May and 0.92% lower than the previous year. The estimated cattle slaughter for the week was 549,000 head, down 14,000 from the prior week and 56,176 head lower than the same week in 2024.
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