Cattle Close July with Sharp Month End Selling

Two cows looking at camera by Clara Bastian via iStock

Live cattle futures continued the midday slide into the close, rounding out the month with losses of $5.30 to $6.57 on Thursday. Cash trade has picked up this week to $235 in KS, up $3 to $5 from last week. Northern trade was up $3 to $383 dressed. Business has been quiet outside of that. Feeder cattle futures collapsed further from the midday losses to close with nearby contracts down $7.57 to $8.37. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was up another $1.98 to $335.01 on July 30. 

Beef Export Sales totaled 8,483 MT in the week ending on July 24, back down from the previous week. Shipments totaled 12,262 MT.

USDA Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were mixed in the Thursday afternoon report, with the Chc/Sel spread narrowing to $1995. Choice boxes were down 67 cents at $361.32, while Select was 46 cents higher to $341.37. USDA estimated cattle slaughter for Thursday at 111,000 head, taking the weekly total to 444,000. That was down 4,000 head from last week and 27,849 head lower vs. the same week in 2024.

Aug 25 Live Cattle  closed at $227.775, down $5.300,

Oct 25 Live Cattle  closed at $223.150, down $6.575,

Dec 25 Live Cattle  closed at $223.925, down $5.975,

Aug 25 Feeder Cattle  closed at $331.375, down $7.575,

Sep 25 Feeder Cattle  closed at $331.550, down $8.200,

Oct 25 Feeder Cattle  closed at $330.175, down $8.375,


On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.