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Feedyard margins remained about $150 per head last week despite a $6 per cwt. retreat in cash cattle prices.

Cattle feeders generally expected margins to be much better by now. An anticipated spring rally that could have erased a lot of red ink has failed to materialize, leaving feedyard closeouts stuck in neutral with near $200 losses.

Cash fed cattle prices retreated $7.77 per cwt. last week. As a result, closeouts added another $75 of red ink.

Most analysts expected feedyards to be near breakeven by the time the calendar turned to May. May is here and the underperforming cash fed cattle market has kept feedyards struggling.

Last week’s $2 per cwt cash cattle rally lifted feedyard margins to breakeven.

Last week’s $1 per cwt retreat in cash cattle prices took feedyard margins only modestly lower.

A $1 decline in average fed cattle prices and a $25 per head increase in the cost of feeder cattle pushed cattle feeding losses to $52 per head last week.

Cattle feeding margins slipped further into the red last week.

Last week’s $2 rally in cash cattle prices helped narrow the spread between feedyard losses and packer profits.

The combination of shrinking packer profits and smaller feedyard losses over the past six weeks has reduced the packer/feeder margin spread by 27%, according to the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker.