Profit Tracker: Cattle Losses Reach Triple Digits
Cattle feeding losses increased nearly five-fold last week with a $5 per cwt. decline in cash prices. Lower cattle costs, however, did not aid beef packers as per head losses more than doubled from the prior week.
Cattle feeding losses fell to $100.52 per head the week ending Dec. 9, $77 per head more than the previous week, according to the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker. Beef packers saw their losses increase $13 per head to total $23. A month ago cattle feeders saw average profits of $94 per head.
For the week ending Dec. 8, cash cattle prices averaged $169.47 per cwt., which is roughly $5 lower than the previous week. Wholesale beef prices posted an average of $287.03 per cwt., roughly $6 per cwt. lower than the previous week. The Beef and Pork Profit Trackers are calculated by Sterling Marketing, Vale, Ore.
Cattle sold last week carried a total feed cost of $443 per head, down about $62 per head from the previous week, and about $83 less than feed costs for cattle sold the same week a month ago. Feed costs are 20% lower than a year ago.
Cattle marketed last week had a breakeven of $176.65 per cwt., while cattle placed on feed last week have a breakeven of $163.16 per cwt., which is about $3 per cwt. lower than a month ago. Cattle placed last week are calculated to have a purchase price for 750-800 lb. feeder steers at $219.16 per cwt., or $13 per cwt. less than a month ago. The feeder steer price is 19% higher than last year.
The estimated total cost for finishing a steer last week was $2,473 per head, up 19% from last year’s estimate of $2,008 per head.
Fed cattle slaughter totaled an estimated 494,030, down 2,000 head from the same week last year. Packing plant capacity utilization was estimated at 84.4% compared to 86.8% last year.
Farrow-to-finish hog producers saw losses of $51 per head last week, about $9 more than losses the previous week. Pork producer margins have now been negative every week for the past year. Lean carcass prices averaged $59.15 per cwt., $2.29 per cwt. lower than the previous week and down $26.98 from last year (-31%).
Pork packers saw profits of about $54 per head, or $7 per head more than the previous week, and their best profit margins since January 2022. Last year pork packers saw losses of $5 per head. Hog slaughter was estimated at 2.687 million head, down 8,000 head from the previous week and up 108,000 head from last year.
Pork packer capacity utilization was estimated at 99.6% compared to 93.4% 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.)
