Negotiated cash cattle traded an average of $4.44 per cwt. lower the second week in August and profit margins declined by $67 per head to an industry average of $246 per head, according to the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker. Meanwhile, beef packers saw their losses shrink $8 for an average loss of $127 per head. That puts the packer/feeder margin spread at $373 per head in favor of the feeder.
Sterling Marketing projects annual cow-calf cash margins for 2024 at $536 per cow. That compares to cash margins of $440 per cow in 2023 and $168 per cow in 2022.
Cash cattle averaged $192.06 per cwt. the week ending August 10, while composite wholesale beef prices were mostly steady at $314.44 per cwt. The Beef and Pork Profit Trackers are calculated by Sterling Marketing, Vale, Ore.
Cattle marketed last week carried a total feed cost of $339.79 per head, up $7.46 per head from the previous week, and about $206 less than feed costs for cattle sold the same week a year ago.
Cattle marketed last week had a breakeven of $174.46 per cwt., while cattle placed on feed last week have a breakeven of $175.17 per cwt., which is about $8.90 per cwt. lower than the previous week and $8.49 per cwt. lower than the same week a year ago. Cattle placed last week are calculated to have a purchase price for 750-800 lb. feeder steers at $249.20 per cwt., or $10.80 per cwt. less than a month ago. The feeder steer price is nearly steady with last year.
The estimated total cost for finishing a steer last week was $2,442 per head, up 11% from last year’s estimate of $2,180 per head.
Fed cattle slaughter totaled an estimated 481,074, up 9,548 head from the same week last year. Packing plant capacity utilization was estimated at 82.1% compared to 80.5% last year.
Farrow-to-finish hog producers found positive margins of $38 per head last week, down $1 from the previous week. Lean carcass prices averaged $87.16 per cwt., down $0.46 per cwt. from the previous week.
Pork packers saw average profits of $17 per head, down $9 from the previous week. Last year pork packer margins were $16. Hog slaughter was estimated at 2.372 million head, down 24,000 head from the same week last year.
Pork packer capacity utilization was estimated at 88.1% compared to 86.9% last year.
(Note: The Sterling Beef Profit Tracker calculates an average beef cutout value for the week in its estimates for feedyard and packer margins. Other prices in the weekly Profit Tracker also are calculated weekly averages. Feedyard margins are calculated on a cash basis only with no adjustment for risk management practices. The Beef and Pork Profit Trackers are intended only as a benchmark for the average cash costs of feeding cattle and hogs. Sterling Marketing is a private, independent beef and pork consulting firm not associated with any packing company or livestock feeding enterprise.)
