Just like they drew it up. Packers shortened production schedules sparked a new life in the boxes. Big gains on the week were made on the cutout to the tune of $15. This sparked a new round of buying of live cattle and gave feeders more confidence to stick to their asking price. This domino effect resulted into higher cash prices across all regions.
The South would trade at $186 cwt live, $2 higher than the previous week. Another week of good competition and good clean up. The North would follow suit moving show lists at mostly $190 cwt live and $300 cwt dressed. Many feeders found themselves stacking bids for the first time in months. Most will await Monday’s look at the inventories. Packers have been trying to push the 15–30-day delivery, but not finding much success. As it sits, packers are 19,000 head behind the previous week’s purchases. One would expect that number to improve.
Looking ahead, offerings will remain manageable and should provide cowboys encouragement to hold onto the momentum. As the Choice-Select spread widens the Northern showlists should become more intriguing to packers as most will carry better grade. Look for another late-week trade as packers will be hesitant to push markets into new all-time highs.
