March placements were up 5% in latest Cattle on Feed report | Weekly Livestock Market Update
On this episode of Weekly Livestock Market Update, Brownfield's Meghan Grebner talks with University of Kentucky ag economist Kenny Burdine about March placements being up 5% in the latest Cattle on Feed report.
Market highlights:
The 5-market average fed steer price was up by just under $4 this week at $211.62. April live cattle futures gained over $7 from last week, settling Thursday at $209.83. Choice boxed beef price was actually down more than $5 on the week, coming in at $331.52. May feeder cattle futures were up more than $8 per cwt on the week, closing at $286.85 yesterday.
The national base hog carcass price was down by a little more than $1 at $84.13 for the week. Pork cutout values were up about 6% for the week at $97.97. May lean hog futures were up 4% this week, closing at $90.40 yesterday.
Weekly Slaughter:
Cattle slaughter was 2% higher this week, estimated at 576,000 head for the week, but still over 5% below last year, year-to-date. Hog slaughter was down 4% from last week at 2.38 million head and that’s down about 3% year-to-date.
April Cattle on Feed:
On feed inventory came in about 1.6% below year-ago, which was close to pre-report expectations. March marketings were 1% higher than March of 2024. March placements were up 5% from 2024, which was on the upper end of pre-report estimates. Steers on feed were essentially unchanged from last year, while USDA-NASS estimated a 4% decrease in the number of heifers on feed. Heifers as a percentage of on-feed inventory came in a 37.6%. This is about a percent lower than both January 1 of this year and April 1 of 2024.
Next week’s reports:
» Livestock Slaughter
» Cold Storage
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