Trade in the South continued where it has been for several weeks. Trade developed on Tuesday and carried on the $119-$120 pattern we have become accustomed to seeing. The one good thing that did show up in the trade was a larger number of cash cattle traded in Kansas. This is very helpful due to Kansas being the state with the largest amount of baked up cattle.
The North started their week no different than what they had for several weeks. Early in the week feeders traded cattle at $120 live and $191 dressed. This covered most of the trade until late in the week. On Friday feeders were able to get a few more cattle moved at $122 and $193.
Feeders continue to have hope that packers will continue to be able to run their plants aggressively and have some extra room to help clean up the backlog of fed cattle. This becomes even more important as summer conditions continue to stick around in many parts of the cattle feeding regions.
Brad Hulett is Director, Customer Development & Regional Manager, Kansas, at Consolidated Beef Producers , Inc.
