Live cattle futures are down 67 cents in nearby August, with other contracts down $5 to $5.75 on Monday. Cash trade has picked up a few at $355-360 dressed and $223-227. Feeder cattle futures are trading with contracts $2.25 to $3.65 lower at midday. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was down another 85 cents on August 20 to $341.00. Monday’s weekly OKC feeder cattle auction has an estimated 3,500 head for sale, with early sales on feeders down $8-15 on steers and $2-8 lower on heifers.
USDA’s Cattle on Feed report showed July placement dropping 11.01% from a year ago at 1.422 million head, well below estimates. July marketings were down 7.38% to 1.62 million head, in line with expectations. August 1 on feed inventory was up 1.79% to 11.117 million head, short of estimates calling for a 2.4% increase.
