Live cattle futures are in rally mode, up $3.20 to $3.70 at midday. Cash trade settled in last week at $238-240 live across the country and $375-378 dressed. Feeder cattle futures are up $7 to $8.125 in the front months at midday. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back up $4.00 to $370.69 on January 29. Monday’s OKC feeder cattle auction showed 2,800 head for sale, with early demand noted as good.
The annual Cattle Inventory report from USDA showed all cattle and calves down 0.37% from last year at 86.155 million head. Beef cows were tallied at 27.607 million head, down 1.02%, with replacement heifers up 0.89% yr/yr at 4.714 million head.
