Live cattle futures are putting their rally pants back on, with contracts up 2 to $2.75 at midday. Cash trade has been limited this week, with some light $225 Southern action reported early and bids on Thursday at $223-227. A few northern trades were tallied at $235. The Friday morning Fed Cattle Exchange online auction from Central Stockyards showed no sales on the 928 head, with bids of just $225 in KS. Feeder cattle are showing $2.45 to 2.70 gains early on Friday. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was up $5.08 to $321.84 on July 9.
The monthly WASDE update showed a 170 million lb drop for expected 2025 beef production on a smaller quarter 2 through quarter 4 production, leaving the full year estimate at 26.188 billion lbs. Production for 2026 was projected up 540 million lbs from last month to 25.815 billion lbs.
