Live cattle futures posted gains of with 67 cents to $1.00 to close out the day, as August was up $2.92 this week. Cash activity settled in at $230-231 in the South this week, with $240-242 in the North. The Friday morning Fed Cattle Exchange online auction from Central Stockyards showed $237.50 sales on 325 head out of KS, with $233 TX BidTheGrid™ sales on 120 head. Feeder cattle futures closed the Friday session with contracts up $2.47 to $2.65, as August was $7.37 higher on the week. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was back up $2.65 to $328.83 on July 24.  

Cattle on Feed data showed June placements down 7.86% from last year at 1.411 million head and well below estimates. Marketings were 1.707 million head and 4.42% below June 2024. July 1 on feed was tallied at 11.195 million head, down 0.96% from a year ago. The bi-annual July Cattle Inventory report was released after a hiatus last year, with July 1 beef cow inventory down 1.2% from 2023 at 28.65 million head. Beef replacement heifers were 5.1% below 2023 at 3.7 million head.

June beef stocks were tallied at 395.678 million lbs according to Cold Storage data. That was a 2.98% decline from May and 0.92% below last year. 

USDA Wholesale Boxed Beef prices were back in the red in the Friday afternoon report, with the Chc/Sel spread at $21.85. Choice boxes were quoted $1.41 lower at $366.68, while Select was down $2.13 to $344.87. USDA estimated cattle slaughter for this week at 549,000 head. That was down 14,000 head from last week and 56,176 head lower vs. the same week in 2024.

Aug 25 Live Cattle  closed at $226.475, up $0.675,

Oct 25 Live Cattle  closed at $223.150, up $1.000,

Dec 25 Live Cattle  closed at $223.475, up $0.825,

Aug 25 Feeder Cattle  closed at $331.375, up $2.475,

Sep 25 Feeder Cattle  closed at $332.200, up $2.550,

Oct 25 Feeder Cattle  closed at $331.000, up $2.650,