Live cattle ended the day with weakness, as contracts were down $1.20 to $2.12 on Wednesday. Yesterday morning’s Fed Cattle Exchange auction saw no sales on the 894 head listed, with bids of $181 and asks of $184. A few cash sales in the South popped up on Wednesday at $182, even with a week ago. Feeders were down $1.95 to $3.10 on the day, with April 65 cents lower ahead of today’s expiration. The CME Feeder Cattle index was back down 58 cents on April 23 to $243.64. 

USDA issued an order requiring that lactating dairy cows be tested before moving across state lines on Wednesday. This came after several inactivated remnants (which pose no known risk to humans) of the H5N1 virus were detected in pasteurized milk samples, along with the virus being detected in a lung of an asymptomatic dairy cow that was sent to slaughter.

The NASS Cold Storage report indicated frozen beef stocks totaled 432.22 million lbs on March 31. That was a 3.38% drop from last month and down 9.54% from a year ago.

USDA’s Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were pushed back lower in Wednesday afternoon’s print. Choice boxes were $1.66 lower to $295.74, with Select down $2.34 at $290.42. That took the Chc/Sel spread back up to $5.32. USDA estimated cattle slaughter at 125,000 head for Wednesday, taking this week’s total to 363,000 head. That was down 6,000 head from the previous week and 12,494 head below the same week last year. 

Apr 24 Live Cattle  closed at $182.100, down $1.250,

Jun 24 Live Cattle  closed at $175.250, down $1.900,

Aug 24 Live Cattle  closed at $173.375, down $2.125,

Apr 24 Feeder Cattle  closed at $243.100, down $0.650,

May 24 Feeder Cattle  closed at $244.100, down $1.950,

Aug 24 Feeder Cattle  closed at $256.300, down $3.100,