December placements drop 3% | Weekly Livestock Market Update

Brownfield Ag News

On this episode of Weekly Livestock Market Update, Brownfield's Meghan Grebner talks with ag economist Kenny Burdine about slaughter numbers, Cold Storage, and the January Cattle on Feed report.

Market highlights:

Live steer prices look to be trading almost $4 higher this week at $207.59 for the 5-market average. February live cattle futures prices were up more than $7 on the week closing above $204 today. January feeder cattle future prices were up more than $5, closing above $278. Cash hogs were virtually unchanged at $80.72/cwt. February lean hog futures were up about $1 from last week, closing at $82.20 today. Pork cutout values were just a tick higher at $92.02 this week.

Weekly Slaughter:

At the end of the week, cattle slaughter was 599,000 head, down from 603,000 last week, and lower than last year. Hog slaughter was 2.477 million head, down about 6% from last week and down even more from year ago.

Cold Storage:

» Frozen beef supplies up 4% from last month, but down 5% from year ago.

» Frozen pork supplies up 2% from November, but down 6% from December of 2023.

» Frozen chicken stocks 8% below year-ago.

» Big jump in bellies month-over-month, but 39% below last year.

Livestock Slaughter:

» Total December slaughter down 1% from year ago, but 3% YOY.

» Steer slaughter has been up a bit, heifer slaughter down a bit, but cows have been the story.

» Month over month, beef cow slaughter was down over 26% and down 18.8% YOY.

» 2024 beef cow slaughter, as a percent of Jan 1 beef cow inventory is 10.1%.

» Total hog slaughter for December 2024 was down just under 1% from 2023. For the year, hog slaughter was up 1.4% from 2023.

January Cattle on Feed:

» On feed inventory came in about 1% below year-ago, which is a larger percentage decrease than what was seen last month.

» December placements were down over 3% from year ago, which was outside the range of estimates for placements.

» December marketings were 1% higher.

» Heifers as a percentage of on-feed inventory came in a 38.7%. This is about a percent lower than October 2024 and about a percent lower than January 2024.

Next week’s report:

» Cattle Inventory Numbers

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