DTN Midday Livestock Comments          10/13 11:52

   Traders Continue to Push the Livestock Contracts Higher

   The livestock complex is off to another strong start as all three of the 
markets are rallying into the noon hour.

ShayLe Stewart
DTN Livestock Analyst

GENERAL COMMENTS:

   It's been a fruitful morning thus far for the livestock complex as all three 
of the livestock markets are rallying into Monday's noon hour. It will be 
imperative for the cattle market that fundamental support remains ample again 
this week, especially in the form of strong beef demand and cash cattle sales. 
December corn is down 2 1/4 cents per bushel and December soybean meal is down 
$1.20. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 625.09 points and NASDAQ is up 
483.36 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

   The live cattle complex is continuing to inch higher into this new week as 
the market is well supported by traders and its fundamentals. Last week, the 
fed cash cattle market was interesting as trade not only waited to develop 
until Friday, but there weren't even enough cattle traded in the South to say 
that any sort of a market trend was established. At any moment now, USDA should 
release the weekly report, which breaks down how many cattle were sold last 
week, at what price and for what delivery option they were committed to. It 
will be imperative to check that report when it's available as that will likely 
indicate how aggressive packers will be in this week's market. But 
nevertheless, the futures market is pleased with the support in which it saw 
last week and is eager to continue to push the contracts higher again this 
morning. December live cattle are up $1.65 at $244.20, February live cattle are 
up $1.25 at $246.65 and April live cattle are up $0.75 at $247.95. New 
showlists appear to be a tad lower in Nebraska/Colorado and Texas and lower in 
Kansas.

   Last week, Northern dressed cattle didn't begin trading until Friday where 
most of the cattle were marked at $362, which is $2.00 higher than the previous 
week's weighted average. Trade in the Southern Plains was incredibly thin, with 
only a couple hundred head of cattle being noted at the day's end. Of that, the 
cattle that did trade in the South, which there wasn't enough sold to say that 
any sort of an accurate trend was established, Southern live cattle were marked 
anywhere from $230 to $234.

   Boxed beef prices are mixed: choice down $0.84 ($364.73) and select up $1.91 
($348.30) with a movement of 86 loads (36.28 loads of choice, 10.76 loads of 
select, zero loads of trim and 38.52 loads of ground beef).

FEEDER CATTLE:

   And just like the live cattle complex, the feeder cattle contracts are also 
rallying into Monday's noon hour. But the one significant difference about the 
two markets this morning is that the feeder cattle complex is currently seeing 
the biggest day-over-day gains in its deferred contracts, which are trading 
mostly over $2.00 higher. Again today, the uptick in the contracts' prices 
reaches new contract highs in most of the nearby contracts. November feeders 
are up $0.50 at $376.40, January feeders are up $1.35 at $373.27 and March 
feeders are up $1.97 at $370.87.

LEAN HOGS:

   It's likely that the uptick in the cattle contracts along with the 
stabilization in the equity markets is helping the lean hog contracts find 
support early this week. December lean hogs are up $1.02 at $85.05, February 
lean hogs are up $0.82 at $87.12 and April lean hogs are up $0.47 at $90.50. 
It's also helping matters that pork cutout values are higher, which is mainly 
being pushed by the picnic's $5.95 gain and the rib's $4.62 jump.

   The projected lean hog index for 10/10/2025 is down $0.86 at $98.57, and the 
actual index for 10/9/2025 is down $0.65 at $99.43. Hog prices are unavailable 
on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report because of confidentiality. However, we 
can see that only 1,247 head have traded, and that the market's five-day 
rolling average now sits at $97.31. Pork cutouts total 133.20 loads with 107.04 
loads of pork cuts and 26.16 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $2.16, 
$106.58.

   ShayLe Stewart can be reached shayle.stewart@dtn.com




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