Live cattle futures continue to ignore the strength in spot cash trade with a sharp downside correction last Wednesday, extending into Thursday, pulling $5/cwt.
The 2025 fed cattle harvest has run very close to a year ago with the full production weeks averaging 473,000 head, a 1,600-head increase over the same period last year.
Last week’s fed cattle trade was highlighted by sales late Friday that featured substantially higher prices as packer demand for spot market cattle pressed prices higher in all regions.
In the last two weeks the average weekly fed cattle harvest total has been 480,000 head, a total reduction of 30,000 head (-3%) over the two-week span compared to a year ago.
