Live cattle futures closed the Thursday with contracts down $1.67 to $3.45. There were 3 deliveries for April retendered in Dodge City on Thursday, with another 20 deliveries tendered in West Point. Cash trade has picked up this week, with a few $248 sales in the South, as last week was $246-249 in the South and $249-250 in the north. The Thursday morning Fed Cattle Exchange online auction showed no sales on the 1,222 head, with bids of $246-248. Feeder cattle futures posted losses of $3.67 to $4.62 on Thursday, with April down 42 cents. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was up $3.63 to $379.09 on April 15.
The Thursday update from APHIS on the new world screwworm in Mexico showed a total of 1,295 active cases across the country. There was still 63 total active cases in the bordering state of Tamaulipas as of April 15, with 2 active cases in Nuevo Leon.
