Live cattle futures are down $4.35 to $4.65 so far at midday. Cash trade ranged from $230 to $232 in the north last week, with Southern sales near $235-237. Feeder cattle futures are posting $7 to $7.50 losses on Tuesday. The CME Feeder Cattle Index fell $3.92 to $343.33 on October 31. The weekly OKC auction has 5,544 head for sale, with action noted $10-25 higher for heifers and feeder steers, with steer calves +$20-30.
USDA Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were mixed in the Tuesday morning report, with the Chc/Sel spread at $14.54. Choice boxes were up $1.61 to $377.64, while Select was $3.17 higher at $363.10. USDA federally inspected cattle slaughter for Monday at 109,000 head. That is 4,000 head above last Monday but 11,597 head shy of the same week last year.
