June live cattle (LEM26) futures on Friday fell $1.00 to $253.00 after hitting a contract and record high early on. For the week, June cattle were up $7.775. May feeder cattle (GFK26) Friday futures fell $1.25 to $371.40 and hit a contract high early on. For the week, May feeders were up $10.50.
The live cattle and feeder cattle futures markets saw some mild profit-taking pressure on Friday, but bulls had a very good trading week amid sharply higher cash cattle trade that developed after mid-week. The USDA at midday Friday reported active cash cattle trading, with steers averaging $255.02 and heifers $254.75. That compares to the prior week averaging $246.18 in cash cattle trading.
