Texas Daily Ag Market News Summary

Slaughter Cattle:  Tuesday negotiated cash trade and demand was light in most feeding regions. In the Southern Plains a few early live purchases have been reported from 117.00-118.00. In the Western Cornbelt early dressed purchases have ranged from 188.00-192.00. The latest established market in the Texas Panhandle was last week with live purchases from 120.00-121.00. In Kansas last week, live purchases traded at 121.00. Last week in Nebraska, live purchases traded mostly from 120.50-122.00 with dressed purchases mostly at 190.00. In Colorado last week, live purchases traded at 120.50. In the Western Cornbelt last week, live purchases traded mostly from 120.00-122.00 with dressed purchases mostly from 190.00-195.00.

Negotiated Sales: Confirmed: 13,208   Week Ago: 5,328   Year Ago: 2,618

Formula Purchases: Net - Dressed 
Head count priced today: 12,500 
Weighted avg weight:       851.00 
Weighted avg net price:    199.86

Alberta Beef Producers Daily Report: Alberta direct cattle sales Monday saw no new trade to report. This week's showlist has been compiled with volumes smaller than the previous week. Last week on a cash to cash basis Alberta fed prices traded at a 4.00 premium to the Nebraska market and 19.00 premium to the over the Ontario market. Western Canadian packers continue to slaughter lots of cows. For the week ending March 24th western Canadian cow slaughter volumes totaled just over 9,000 head, slaughter volumes are 27% larger compared to the same week last year.

Livestock Slaughter under Federal Inspection: 
                             Cattle      Calves  Hogs        Sheep 
Tuesday  (est        119,000    2,000     468,000      9,000 
Week ago (est)      119,000    2,000     461,000     9,000 
Year ago (act)       116,000    2,000     449,000      8,000 
Week to date (est) 221,000    4,000     786,000    16,000 
Last Week (est)     236,000    4,000     919,000    18,000 
Last Year (act)       223,000    4,000     893,000    17,000

Boxed Beef: Boxed beef cutout values steady on Choice and lower on Select on light to moderate demand and moderate to heavy offerings. Select and Choice rib cuts lower while round and loin cuts steady to weak. Select and Choice chuck cuts firm to higher. Beef trimmings moderately to sharply higher on moderate to good demand and moderate offerings. 

Cutout Values...            Choice        Select 
Current Cutout Values:    219.68         209.33 
Change from prior day:       -0.12          -1.17 
Choice/Select spread:       10.35

Futures Summary: Live cattle futures settled Tuesday with 42.5 cent to $1.325 losses after peeking into positive territory earlier in the day. Feeder cattle futures were down 97.5 cents to $1.775 on the day. The CME feeder cattle index was down 12 cents on April 2 at $134.94. Wholesale boxed beef values were lower on Tuesday afternoon. Choice boxes were 12 cents lower at $219.68, with Select boxes down $1.17 at $209.33. Estimated FI cattle slaughter was 221,000 head through Tuesday, 15,000 below last week and down 2,000 head from the same week in 2017. A few initial cash sales were reported at $117-118 in the South today, with $188 dressed in the North.

April Live Cattle Futures: 111.97...-0.43

June Live Cattle Futures: 99.62...-1.33

August Live Cattle Futures: 99.60...-0.70

April Feeder Cattle Futures: 130.52...-1.35

May Feeder Cattle Futures: 130.97...-1.40

Aug Feeder Cattle Futures: 137.17...-1.78

CME Feeder Cattle Index: 135.06...-0.12

May Lean Hog Futures: 61.20...-3.62

National Grain Market Summary:  Compared to Monday, cash bids for wheat, corn and soybeans were higher, while sorghum was not quoted today.  According to NASS, the first weekly crop progress report of the 2018 growing season reported the U.S. winter wheat crop is in the worst condition in over a decade.  For the week ended April 1, 2018, winter wheat was rated only 32% in good to excellent condition, well below the 51% reported at the same time last year and the lowest good to excellent rating since 2002. Corn and soybeans traded incrementally higher on the Board today as news for the two commodities were slim during the trading day.

Kansas City Corn: 3.75...+0.01

Kansas City Soybeans: 10.01...+0.03

Kansas City Wheat: 4.75...+0.18

May Corn Futures: 3.8850...+0.0125

May Soybean Futures: 10.3800...+0.0250

May Wheat Futures: 4.5750...+0.1125

Nearby Crude Oil Futures Contract: 63.51...+0.50

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 24,033.36...+389.17

NASDAQ: 6,941.28...+71.16

U.S. Dollar Index: 90.22...+0.18