Live cattle futures posted Monday gains of 32 cents to $1.25 at the close. Open interest showed a rotation of ownership, down just 493 contracts. Cash trade from last week settled in at $235-236 sales in the North and $235 in the South. Feeder cattle futures were 70 cents to $2.37 higher across the board. OI slipped 836 contracts. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back down 73 cents to $361.33 on March 20. The weekly OKC feeder cattle auction has an estimated 5,500 head for sale, with steers steady on the feeders and up $5-15 for calves. Heifers were firm to $5 higher.
Cattle on Feed data from Friday afternoon showed a total of 1.611 million head of feeders placed in lots over 1,000 head during February, a 3.67% increase yr/yr. Marketings totaled 1.522 million head, down 7.8% vs. last year. That took the March 1 on feed inventory to 11.549 million head, a 0.24% drop yr/yr and compares to a 1.86% decline on Feb 1.
