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Today's Prices (Fri pm)


CME LIVESTOCK:  Live Cattle: $194.25 (-2.275); Feeder Cattle: $266.35 (-1.625); Hogs: $92.60 (-0.50)


CME GRAINS:   Corn: $4.9625 (+0.0275); Wheat: $6.00 (+0.2225); Soybeans: $10.36 (+0.06); Soybean Meal: $295.90 (+3.20)

STOCK UPDATE:   Dow 30: 44,546.08 (-165.35); Nasdaq: 20,026.77 (+81.13); S&P 500: 6,114.63 (-0.44) (Stocks Shake off Weak Retail Sales Report due to Lower US Bond Yields) 


ENERGY PRICES:  Crude Oil: $70.65 (-0.64); Ethanol: $1.8325 (+0.02); Natural Gas: $3.731 (+0.103) (Crude Prices Decline on Continued Tariff Concerns) 


BOXED BEEF:  Choice: $314.70 (-2.70); Select: $ 307.14 (-2.70); Ch/Se Spread: 7.56; Total Loads: 87 compared to 116 on Thursday


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To view the most recent prices and news, please visit the U.S. Cattle Report Channel.

Highlights (Cattle Report Channel)

  1.  CME Live Cattle: $194.25 (-2.275); Feeder Cattle: $266.35 (-1.625);  Corn: $4.9625 (+0.0275)
  2.  RTI (7-Day Feeder Cattle Index):  $275.91 (+0.60)
  3. AMARILLO: Partly sunny, with a high near 64. Breezy, with a south southwest wind 20 to 25 mph  (FRI)
  4. Boxed beef down $2.70 on Fri to $314.70
  5. CATTLE TRADE: Cash trade at $203
  6. COT:  Funds decrease net long position by 14.7K to 135.7K contracts 
  7. BEEF EXPORTS:   Beef sales at 13.1K mt
  8. Weekly cattle slaughter at 561K hd, WTD down 23K
  9. Daily drop up 21 cents on Fri to 11.87
  10. DROUGHT MONITOR:  71.05% of Contiguous U.S. in drought compared to 69.27% last week and 39.63% last year
  11. Gas prices up 5 cents this week to $3.13, down $0.06 from last year
  12. Diesel prices up slightly this week to $3.67, down $0.44 from last year
  13. CATTLE ON FEED:  Inventory down 1%;  Placements down 3%
  14. Beef production down 4.2% from last week, cattle weights down 3 lbs from last week
  15. NATURAL GAS:   Henry Hub up 72 cents to $3.94

CATTLE TRADE:  Cash trade at $203

So far for Friday in the Texas Panhandle, negotiated cash trade has been mostly inactive on light demand. In Kansas, negotiated cash trade has been at a standstill. The last reported market in the Southern Plains was Tuesday with live FOB purchases at 203.00, on a light test. In Nebraska negotiated cash trade has been moderate on moderate demand. Compared to last week in Nebraska, live FOB purchases have traded 5.00 lower at 203.00 and dressed delivered purchases have traded 7.00-8.00 lower from 320.00-321.00. In the Western Cornbelt negotiated cash trade has been slow on moderate demand. Compared to Thursday in the Western Cornbelt, live FOB purchases have traded steady at 203.00. Last week dressed delivered purchases traded at 328.00.

U.S. EXPORT SALES:  Beef sales at 13.1K mt

Net sales of 13,100 MT for 2025 primarily for South Korea (7,400 MT, including decreases of 400 MT), Japan (2,700 MT, including decreases of 300 MT), Mexico (1,000 MT, including decreases of 100 MT), Canada (500 MT, including decreases of 100 MT), and Taiwan (400 MT, including decreases of 100 MT), were offset by reductions for China (500 MT). Exports of 14,900 MT were primarily to South Korea (4,800 MT), Japan (3,600 MT), China (2,200 MT), Mexico (1,300 MT), and Canada (800 MT).

NATIONAL DROUGHT MONITOR

The High Plains once again missed out on the precipitation that moved through the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic parts of the U.S. Western Nebraska and Kansas saw degradation as the lack of precipitation continues to affect the area. Colorado also saw degradations. In the far Northeast, abnormally dry conditions expanded from Nebraska and Kansas. Western Colorado continues to see degradations in the Western Slope and San Juan regions. Wyoming did see some extreme drought removal in the northwest and north central areas as snowpack has markedly improved in the non-mountainous areas.

United States Cattle on Feed Down 1 Percent

Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 11.8 million head on January 1, 2025. The inventory was 1 percent below January 1, 2024. The inventory included 7.25 million steers and steer calves, up 1 percent from the previous year. This group accounted for 61 percent of the total inventory. Heifers and heifer calves accounted for 4.58 million head, down 3 percent from 2024.  Placements in feedlots during December totaled 1.64 million head, 3 percent below 2023. Net placements were 1.58 million head. During December, placements of cattle and calves weighing less than 600 pounds were 395,000 head, 600-699 pounds were 380,000 head, 700-799 pounds were 375,000 head, 800-899 pounds were 287,000 head, 900-999 pounds were 115,000 head, and 1,000 pounds and greater were 90,000 head.   Marketings of fed cattle during December totaled 1.74 million head, 1 percent above 2023.  Other disappearance totaled 59,000 head during December, 2 percent below 2023.

Weekly beef production down 4.2%, Cattle weights down 3 lbs from last week

Beef Production
Beef production for the week ending February 15, 2025, was estimated at 489.2 million pounds, down 4.2% from the prior week’s 510.6 million pounds and 3.4% lower than the same week in 2024. Year-to-date beef production stands at 3.336 billion pounds, a 4.1% decline from last year, reflecting tighter cattle supplies despite occasional weekly increases.

Cattle Slaughter
Weekly cattle slaughter was 561,000 head, a 3.9% decrease from last week’s 584,000 head and 7.7% lower than the same period in 2024. Year-to-date cattle slaughter is now at 3.815 million head, down 8.4% from last year, indicating a continued decline in available cattle for processing.

Cattle Weights
Live cattle weights for the week were 1,439 pounds, down slightly from 1,442 pounds last week but 50 pounds heavier than last year. Dressed weights came in at 874 pounds, just below last week’s 876 pounds, but still 40 pounds above 2024 levels, helping to offset lower slaughter numbers.

Livestock Comments:  Dr. Andrew Griffith

The calf and feeder cattle market has softened the past couple of weeks as tremendous uncertainty has entered the marketplace. Some of this uncertainty stems from policy measures that may influence trade in the way of tariffs and certain labor challenges that may surface in packing facilities with deportations. At the same time, packers are pushing back on cattle feeders as their margins have evaporated and look more like the Nile River when Moses was leading the Israelites out of Egypt. This will likely result in pushback from cattle feeders, which may lead to lower prices for feeder cattle in the coming weeks and months. Feeder cattle futures are reflecting these concerns. Many of the feeder cattle contracts are $7 to $10 lower than their contract high two weeks ago. 

CATTLE SLAUGHTHER:   Beef production fell by 21.4 million pounds from last week and 17.2 million pounds from the same week last year, totaling 489.2 million pounds. Cattle slaughter dropped by 23,000 head from last week and 47,000 head from last year, with 561,000 head processed

THE BEEF READ:   Quiet... Yesterday’s open interest fell over 5k contracts as long liquidation dominated the day and sent futures lower. So today is a classic market rest day, as traders regroup. Most active April LC has come within 50 cents of the low for 2025 this week and right now is consolidating above that level (THE BEEF)

DAILY DROP:   The hide and offal value was estimated at $11.21, up 21 cents from Thursday

Rob Cook, RobCookKC@gmail.com