Cattle prices log rough week
SASKATOON (Staff) – A combination of larger volumes and feedlots unwilling to accept lower prices sent fed cattle prices down by $2.50 per cwt. last week.
Canfax said total volumes sold last week were large, at 16,000 head, even though 2,000 head were passed in March 14.
Lower prices are more surprising given feedlots are cleaning up their long yearlings and 1994 calves are making up most of the offering, Canfax said.
Late in the week American buyers stepped in, helping to put a floor under lower prices even though the U.S. market was down too.
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Both cow markets and feeder cattle markets were lower, feeling the pinch from the lower slaughter cattle markets and ever-higher barley prices.
D1 and D2 cows were priced from $55 to $65 per cwt., even though a big run of cows is keeping the kill larger than normal. Railgrade cows were bid from $114-$116.25.
The U.S. department of agriculture’s seven state cattle-on-feed report released March 17 didn’t help the market’s negative frame of mind. It said American feedlots put 1.607 million head on feed during February, the second largest February placements recorded.
“This report means that we could have cattle in the mid-to-high-50’s (U.S.),” said analyst Dale Benson with Dean Witter in Chicago.
Analysts were unsure how much of the report was already built into the futures market.
Hog outlook mixed
Index 100 pool prices were higher by $1 in Saskatchewan at $1.38.20 per ckg, and by $1.30 in Alberta at $139.30. Prices held steady in Manitoba at $138.55. But heavy deliveries during the past week and sluggish retail markets are putting packers in the red. “Ample supplies might cause some downward pressure on the hog market,” said Don Hrapchak, SPI sales manager.
