US: Cattle Market Review 21 Weeks Ending May 26, 2025

Feeder cattle futures also strengthened, with the most active August contract hitting a one-week high as prices continued to strengthen in Midwest money markets.

Traders said they would be closely monitoring sales levels at grocery store MEAT counters over the long Memorial Day weekend and how that might impact retailers' Father's Day buying.

Expectations that a USDA report on Friday will show tight cattle supplies are also supporting prices, according to a survey of analysts conducted byREUTERS , As of May 1, the number of feeder cattle in the United States is estimated to be down 3.2 percent from a year ago.

"The supply situation is pretty well known at this point, unless there's a really big surprise in the report," said Dan Norcini, an independent livestock analyst.

Livestock traders also said they were monitoring news that Brazil had begun a 28-day bird flu surveillance period, which they hoped would show the country's poultry farms were free of the disease, which was seen as somewhat negative news for livestock futures.

WEEKLY COST OF CUT OUT CAT.CHOICE

CATTLE SALES

Sale of cattle, heads

Average weight

Week 20

Week 21

Growth per week,%

Week 20

Week 21

Growth per week,%

Bulls (live weight)

25 982

9 634

-62.9%

1,478

1 506

1.9%

Heifers (live weight)

9 153

5 899

-35.6%

1 310

1 344

2.6%

Bulls (slaughter weight)

7 566

6 458

-14.6%

971

975

0.4%

Heifers (slaughter weight)

1 626

3 465

113.1%

885

866

-2.1%

WEEKLY WEIGHTED AVERAGE BULL PRICE

BEEF PRODUCTION                                                                     

Indicator

Week 21

Previous week

A year ago

Growth per week,%

Growth per year, %

Volume of cattle slaughter

557,000

566,000

602,000

-1.6%

-7.5%

Live weight

1,430

1 432

1 394

-0.1%

2.6%

Slaughter weight

874

875

851

-0.1%

2.7%

Beef Production (million pounds)

497,0

494,0

511,0

0.6%

-2.7%

WEEKLY CHOICE/SELECT PRICE SHOULDER

CME: Live Cattle Futures

Week 20

Week 21

Growth per week,%

June

212.23

215.80

1.7%

August

206.75

210.45

1.8%

October

203.98

208.10

2.0%

CME: Feeder Cattle Futures

August

297.60

300.38

0.9%

September

296.28

299.35

1.0%

October

296.45

297.35

0.3%

You can learn more about the state of the cattle market in the usa (cattle prices, cost of beef by category, production dynamics) in the weekly reviews of the meat market in RUSSIA and in the world from Meatinfo.ru. Weekly reviews are available as part of a subscription.