Profit Tracker – Cattle Margins Down, Pork Higher
Average cattle feeding margins totaled $87 per head during the third week of May, according to the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker. That average was $43 lower than the previous week and $35 per head lower than a year ago. The Beef and Pork Profit Trackers are calculated by Sterling Marketing, Inc., Vale, Oregon.
Estimated beef packer margins for the third week in May $178 per head, up $11 per head from the previous week, and down $746 from the same week a year ago. Last week’s Choice beef cutout averaged $259 per cwt., about steady with the previous week and $50 per cwt. lower than the same week a year ago.
Last week’s calculations were based on 5-area fed cattle prices of $141.25 per cwt., about $2 per cwt. lower than the previous week, and up $21 per cwt. from last year. Feed costs for the cattle marketed last week averaged $470 per head, up $7 from the previous week and up $113 per head from last year.
Cattle slaughter totaled an estimated 680,000 head, up 23,000 head from the previous week and up 161,000 head from last year. Packing plant capacity utilization was estimated at 92.5% compared to 89.4% the previous week and 69.3% last year.
Farrow-to-finish hog producers found profits of $78 per head last week, up $5 per head from the previous week and down $16 per head from last year. Lean carcass prices averaged $114.24 per cwt., up $1.75 from the previous week and down $2.97 from last year.
Pork packers saw losses of an estimated $31 per head, which compares to a loss of $33.50 per head the previous week and a loss of $8 per head last year. Hog slaughter was estimated at 2.414 million head, down 39,000 head from the previous week and down 281,000 head from last year.
Pork packer capacity utilization was estimated at 89.8% compared to 88.3% the previous week and 75.3% 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.)
