Missouri Weekly Cattle Auction Summary

Compared to last week, steers and heifers mostly 5.00 to 10.00 lower, spots 15.00 to 20 lower mostly in early week sales. Demand was good with a light to moderate supply. Markets cautiously opened this week with volatile futures markets until mid-week when there was an announcement that some tariffs were being paused. Quite a few sale barns noted lighter-than-normal supply partially due to uncertainty in the markets. Live cattle futures closed on Friday uneven with the front months (April, June, August) 0.15 to 1.40 lower, but October and December 0.70 to 1.77 higher, compared to a week ago. Feeder cattle futures closed out the week 2.62 to 5.75 higher, counteracting the days that closed in the red. In feedlot trade, there were just under 49,000 head reported on Friday afternoon. Very little early week trade from 204.00 to 208.00 live and 327.00-328.00 dressed. Late week trade live up to 212.50 and dressed 325.00-328.00. Boxed beef cuts closed on Friday at 334.22 for choice and 313.96 for select, 4.23 lower and 3.22 lower for the week, respectively. The Missouri Stocker Formula consists of 3,151 head with a weighted average weight of 522.80 lbs and a price value of 351.44, 21.83 lower than a week ago. The first weekly crop progress report for the year was released last week. It showed 6 percent of Missouri's corn had been planted and 3 percent of soybeans had been planted, as of April 6. There's no doubt that plenty of headway has been made in the past week. The planters have been rolling and farmers are getting seed into the ground while there is some time between rain showers. Fertilizer buggies and spreader trucks have been hard at work spreading on pastures, too. Grass has been greening up and the warmer weather has encouraged growth. Last week's pasture condition was rated 94 percent in the fair, good, or excellent categories.