Markets
April Cattle on Feed report indicated that there were 14 percent more heifers on feed than the year before. That estimate is not far off the growth in heifer slaughter, year-over-year in the April-early June period. While the number of heifers on feed has been very large compared to the last few years, it is about the same as the number on feed, on average, over the 2007-2012 period before the drought and during the herd adjustments to ethanol fueled feed costs. The July Cattle on Feed report will provide the next estimate of the number of heifers in feedlots.
In the face of surging heifer and all cattle slaughter, fed cattle prices rebounded last week, up from about $ 110 to about $ 114 per cwt. Exports continue to boom while some market refueling from the Memorial Day holiday weekend is moving beef in the domestic market.
The Markets
The Choice beef cutout continues to hang in there with growing beef supplies, finishing up the week about $ 226, down only slightly from the end of the week before. The Choice-Select spread was about $ 23. Fed cattle prices popped up a couple dollars from the week before. Of note, no fed cattle trade was reported in Colorado due to confidentiality constraints in mandatory price reporting. This has been a growing concern for some time. I