Live cattle futures are down anywhere from a quarter to $1.45 at midday. Cash action has been quiet this week. The Central Stockyards Fed Cattle Exchange saw no sales on the 1,376 head listed, with bids at $181 and asks at $184. Feeder cattle are also in retreat after running into some technical resistance, with losses of 7 cents to $1.12 on Wednesday so far. The CME Feeder Cattle index was back up 29 cents on April 15 to $241.36. 

Cattle on Feed data will be released on Friday, with the trade expecting to see March placements down 7% from a year ago. Marketings during the month are projected to be 11.9% lower vs. March 2023.  April 1 on feed inventory is seen up 2.1% from last year.

USDA’s Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were lower in the Wednesday morning summary. Choice boxes were down 23 cents to $297.79, with Select up 74 cents to $291.90. That narrowed the Chc/Sel spread back down to $5.89. Tuesday’s USDA estimated cattle slaughter was pegged at 124,000, taking the week to date total to 245,000 head. That is down 1,000 head from the previous week and down 5,806 head from the same week last year. 

Apr 24 Live Cattle  are at $180.075, down $1.425,

Jun 24 Live Cattle  are at $174.575, down $1.150,

Aug 24 Live Cattle  are at $172.325, down $0.600,

Apr 24 Feeder Cattle  are at $240.275, down $0.075

May 24 Feeder Cattle  are at $239.900, down $1.075

Aug 24 Feeder Cattle  are at $251.575, down $0.775