U.S. Cattle on Feed Up Slightly, Placements Down 7% | Weekly Livestock Market Update for 2/23/24
Brownfield Anchor/Reporter Brent Barnett and University of Missouri Market Analyst Scott Brown give a weekly recap of the markets and discuss how it can impact farmers’ bottom lines.
Learn more about what's happening in the agriculture markets here: https://brownfieldagnews.com/markets/
Find more agriculture news here: https://brownfieldagnews.com/
====================
This week in the markets:
====================
Live fed cattle prices are $0.75 higher on the week with very light volume, and feeder cattle prices were $2.00 to $4.00 higher this week. April live cattle were up $0.35 on the week, and March feeder cattle were up $3.30 on the week, while March corn futures were 17 cents lower this week, with corn futures closing below $4.00 for the first time since late 2020. Choice box beef was up $4.30 this week and stood at $12.00 above the year-ago level. Cash hogs are up $4.00 this week. April lean hog futures were up $1.95 on the week. Pork cutout values were up $3.75 this week, with strength in all primals.
====================
Weekly slaughter:
====================
At the end of the week, cattle slaughter was 593,000 head, down 15,000 on the week and down 21,000 for the year. Hog slaughter was 2.578 million head, up 19,000 from the previous week and up 217,000 on the year.
====================
Livestock slaughter:
====================
January beef production totaled 2.28 billion pounds, down 1.9% relative to one year ago. Beef cow slaughter was down 12.6% in January relative to one year ago. January pork production totaled 2.47 billion pounds, 2% above last year.
====================
Cattle on feed:
====================
The February Cattle on Feed inventory was 11.797 million head, up slightly from last year's level. January cattle placements were 1.792 million head, 7% below last year. Placements were four percentage points above the pre-report estimate. Pre-report estimates were expecting lower placements due to cold weather conditions in January limiting sales of feeder cattle.
====================
Next week's reports:
====================
➡︎ Quarterly Ag Trade
➡︎ Restaurant Performance Index
➡︎ Cold Storage (delayed this week)
====================
Connect with us:
====================
➡︎ X (formally Twitter): https://twitter.com/brownfield
➡︎ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrownfieldAgNews
====================
Subscribe and listen to Brownfield Ag News:
====================
➡︎ Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/dz/podcast/brownfield-ag-news/id1436508505
➡︎ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qoIHY9EYUV9sf5DXhBKHN?si=a4483aaa1afd445e
Brownfield Ag News creates and delivers original content across multiple media platforms. Brownfield is the largest and one of the oldest agricultural news networks in the country carrying agricultural news, markets, weather, commentary and feature content.
