Contrary to popular belief, the harsh winter weather conditions are not cutting federally inspected steer carcass weights more than is usual for this time of year.
It may be taking longer in the feed yard for cattle to be ready for slaughter, but feedlot managers appear to know how to deal with the harsh conditions. Many have said over the years that apart from the stress that comes from transporting young calves to the feedlots and getting them acclimated, winter isn’t terribly hard on the cattle if they can stay dry.
Data from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statics Service and the Agricultural Marketing Service that was compiled by the Livestock Marketing Information Center in Denver shows carcass weights are declining. However, the declines are close to normal and last year.
Average weekly fed steer carcass weights last week came to 879 pounds down six, or 0.68%, from 885 the previous week and 13 pounds, or 1.46%, below the first week of January’s 892 pounds.
It’s apparent that last year’s weekly average fed steer carcass weights held above the 2013-2017 average until the last week of April. After that, they held very close to the five-year average until fall, when they began to dip below the average.
However, weekly average beef carcass weights this year have held between last year and the 2013-2017 average. Last week, for instance, the average carcass weight was 879 pounds, two pounds, or 0.23%, below 881 in the same week a year earlier but 3.2 pounds, or 0.37%, above the previous five-year average of 875.8 pounds.
BEEF PRODUCTION ABOVE AVERAGE
Not only are steer dressed weights near average, but weekly average beef production is holding above the 2013-2017 average and very near last year, NASS and AMS data show.
Last week’s estimated beef production came to 474.6 million pounds, down 17.6 million, or 3.58%, from the previous week’s 492.2 million but up 2.7 million, or 0.57%, from 471.9 million in the same week of 2018 but 29.3 million, or 6.58%, above the previous five-year average of 445.3 million.
Total beef production has a strong seasonal tendency to dip in the early spring and then come back and track unevenly higher until the last two weeks of the year.
CHOICE GRADING RISES
Not only are carcass weights tracking close to average and last year and beef production holding above average, but the average percentage of beef carcasses grading choice as a percent of beef graded is rising above last year, which held above the 2013-2017 average all year.
For the second week of February, the average percent of choice carcasses among all carcasses produced came to 73.88%, up 0.29 percentage points from 73.59% the previous week, but 0.80 percentage points above the 73.08% of the same week a year earlier and 4.458 percentage points above the 69.422% of the previous five-year average.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
Cash cattle trade was reported at $128.50 per cwt on a live basis and at $203 to mostly $205 dressed versus $128 and $205 last week.
The USDA choice cutout Monday was up $2.26 per cwt at $223.55, while select was up $0.42 at $217.21. The choice/select spread widened to $6.34 from $4.50 with 54 loads of fabricated product sold into the spot market.
The CME Feeder Cattle index for the seven days ended Friday, was $139.59 per cwt, up $0.36. This compares with Monday’s Mar contract settlement of $141.20, down $0.02.