Fed Cattle Down, Back Again
In Cautiously Positive Trade

Plains fed cattle trading was another sad story through Tuesday this week, by which time the Panhandle area had sold 31,000 head at $59, a dollar lower yet again.

Wednesday was another story — maybe. Roughly 5000 cattle moved in the Panhandle at $60, along with 7600 or so in Kansas and most of 10,000 in Nebraska.

That was an encouraging sign on the surface, but the money was coming from only one packer, reportedly an attempt to put the other big boys in a bind. They hadn’t taken the bait through late Wednesday afternoon.

On a showlist of 86,772 head, Texas counted 75,916 head moving through midweek, nearly 34,000 of them captives. Kansas was up to 56,700 including 35,400 captives, and Nebraska reported 80,000 head.

Midwest direct trade areas saw $59.50-60.50 live trade by midweek, dressed terms $94.50-95. Terminal markets paid $57-59.70.

Southwest movement was typically light, a few pens of Holstein steers in the Southern San Joaquin and Nevada at $87 hot weight. Northwest direct trade was steady to $2 lower in the face of heavy captive supplies at $90-93 dressed.

Stocker and feeder cattle encountered buyers in a slightly better humor this week, most prices appearing to steady some after weeks of declines.

St. Joseph, Mo. again ran too few cattle to test trends but described a steady undertone. Dodge City on Wednesday reported steady bids on 2000 head, and 4000 head were likewise steady at a collection of Florida auctions.

In Texas, roughly 3300 head at Crockett sold steady to weak, and Amarillo reported a steady to weak trend on a light run of 1108 head. San Antonio offered 1400 head over two days; Monday’s trend was steady to $1 lower overall with a steady to $2 higher exception on heifers under 400 pounds, and Wednesday was mostly steady with the earlier trend except that those light heifers picked up another $2.

Oklahoma City offered 10,430 head and called feeder weight steers steady to $2 higher, similar heifers steady to $1 higher, but stocker steer calves $1-2 lower and heifer calves $2-4 lower. Best 400-450 pound steer calves earned $78-82; 450-500 pounds $75.50-76.25; 500-550 pounds $72.50-77; 550-600 pounds $71-75.50; 600-650 pounds $72-74.50; 650-700 pound calves $67.75-72, yearlings $69-74.50; 700-750 pounds $70-72.50; 750-800 pounds $67-71; 800-900 pounds $64.75-69.50; and 900-1000 pounds $60.75-67.