Cattle Market Notes: Week Ending Apr 10, 2015

Cash Cattle:

Cash traded fed cattle finished the week lower. The five-area fed steer price ended the week at $163.13 for live sales, and $264.01 for dressed; respectively, down $3.54 and $0.71. Kansas traded at $163, live, on Friday, while in Nebraska cattle sold at $256-$263 dressed.

In Mississippi auction markets, feeders were steady to slightly higher and calves were mostly steady.  Oklahoma City feeder steers and heifers sold steady to $3 higher, while calves were steady to $2 higher.

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Futures:

Feeder futures closed Friday with steep losses, which brought an end to a fairly rough week. When compared to last week’s holiday shortened Thursday close, feeder futures were generally lower by $7. Live cattle futures ended this week down about $2.50-$4.50. The lower cash trade for fed cattle pressured futures markets. The overall lack of cash traded cattle continues to be a concern in the marketplace, but traders have no where else to look from a price discovery perspective and this will likely not let up for the foreseeable future.

Corn futures shed about $0.10 this week.

Beef:

Wholesale boxed beef prices were higher. Choice boxes averaged $257.50, up $2.95. Select boxes ended the week with an average of $251.24, up $2.00.

Note: all cattle and beef prices are quoted in dollars per hundredweight and corn prices are quoted in dollars per bushel, unless stated otherwise.