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Cattle feeding margins jumped $72 per head higher the week ending Jan. 25 as the value of feeder cattle calculated against those closeouts declined $8 per cwt.

Cattle feeders and pork producers continue to experience significant per head losses as market prices trend lower following slaughter and processing challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cattle feeding and packer profit margins were mostly steady the week ending December 21, with cash prices for fed cattle slightly higher.

Cash cattle prices lost another $2 per cwt. last week, a decline of $7 over two weeks. Coupled with higher input costs on feeder cattle, the decline feedyards with an average $22 per head loss last week.

Cash cattle prices stubbornly steady to $1 higher gave a slight boost to feedyard margins and left packer margins nearly unchanged last week.

Sharply lower cash cattle prices erased $100 per head from closeout profit margins last week and left cattle feeders re-evaluating ideas of a spring rally.

Cattle feeding and packer profit margins both declined last week as cash cattle prices were modestly lower.

Feedyards saw closeouts improve dramatically last week after the cash cattle market posted its third consecutive week of higher prices.

Gains in cash fed cattle prices did not translate into higher profits for feedyards last week as higher feeder cattle prices were calculated into breakevens.

Packer margins advanced on softer cash cattle prices and gain in the beef cutout prices.