
Live cattle futures were $1.20 to $1.70 higher on Friday, as October took the weekly gain to $3.60. Preliminary open interest was up 4,613 contracts on Friday. Cash trade settled in last week at $240 in the South, with Northern sales of $237-238. The Friday morning Fed Cattle Exchange online auction from Central Stockyards saw $239-241 BidTheGrid™ sales on 183 of the 1,250 head offered. Feeder cattle futures posted Friday strength anywhere from 97 cents to $3.70, as September was back up $8.75 last week. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back down $1.99 at $360.63 on September 18.
USDA’s monthly Cattle on Feed release from Friday afternoon showed August Placements down 9.92% at 1.78 million head, with August marketings 13.63% below last year at 1.571 million head. September 1 on feed was 1.05% below September 2024 at 11.08 million head.