Cattle markets up again today as the December live contract finished higher for the third straight session, settling at 151.350, up $1.575. Cash trades, in my opinion, seem to be driving this rally higher as there were reports of $150 traded in the Iowa/Minnesota area. December cattle closed slightly higher on the session yesterday and that buying had pushed the market to the highest level it’s seen since September 26th. While beef production was higher last week, beef prices have been in an uptrend and has seemed to given traders some confidence that the cash market will remain firm to higher inb the coming weeks. The USDA estimated cattle slaughter came in at 128k head yesterday, bringing the total for the week so far up to 254k head which is down from the prior week which was 256k. Again 4th quarter beef production is expected to be down roughly 3%. The October Cattle on Feed comes out this Friday and the estimates are as follows:
