Live cattle futures were mixed at the close, anticipating little bearish news for nearby cash cattle in the COF report, but more cautious above December and later. Overall, the board was 85 cents higher to 52 cents lower. Some southern cattle traded at $187 to $188.50 this week, with the north showing some sales of $310 in the beef and live sales of $196. Feeder cattle futures went home with Friday losses of $.62 to $1.30, and most contracts in triple digit territory. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was down 8 cents on July 18 at $259.18.

Friday’s Cattle on Feed report showed June feeder placements at 1.564 million head, a 6.85% drop from last year, while marketings were down 8.74% at 1.786 million head. That took the on feed inventory to 11.304 million head by July 1, a 0.54% increase from last year.

USDA wholesale Boxed Beef prices were lower in the Friday PM report, with Choice boxes down another $2.32 to $313.83/cwt and Select products 66 cents lower at $298.80. The Chc/Sel spread is at $15.03. USDA estimated Friday’s FI slaughter at 103,000 head, as some packers dealt with the affected cyber outage. The weekly total was estimated at 584,000 head, which is a 17,000 head drop from the previous week and 41,915 head below the same week last year.

Aug 24 Live Cattle  closed at $183.100, up $0.850,

Oct 24 Live Cattle  closed at $183.475, up $0.450,

Dec 24 Live Cattle  closed at $184.675, down $0.300,

Aug 24 Feeder Cattle  closed at $255.600, down $0.625,

Sep 24 Feeder Cattle  closed at $255.775, down $1.225,

Oct 24 Feeder Cattle  closed at $255.650, down $1.300,