Live cattle futures saw strength into the Monday close, as contracts were 30 to 90 cents higher. Cash trade was late last week, with Southern action at $244 and Northern sales from $239-243. Feeder cattle futures saw stronger trade, shrugging off early losses to close $1.85 to $2.30 higher. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was down another 97 cents to $371.82 on February 27. The OKC feeder cattle auction on Monday showed 5,500 head for sale, with feeder steers $2-8 lower and heifers down $4-10. Calves were down $5-15 for steers and 10-20 lower on heifers.
Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were higher in the Monday afternoon report, with the Chc/Sel spread narrowing to $3.13. Choice boxes were up $1.50 to $381.34, while Select was $3.90 higher to $378.21. USDA estimated federally inspected cattle slaughter for Monday at 102,000 head. That is 4,000 head below with the previous Monday and 2,764 head shy of the same Monday last year.
