Kansas feedlot sales of slaughter-ready cattle to packing plants rose in June, a seasonal move that falls well short of last year’s June sales.
The data came from a monthly Kansas State University Extension Service survey of selected feedlots around the state, which was compiled and extrapolated by the Livestock Marketing Information Center in Denver to give an estimate of the total state’s activity.
CLOSEOUTS FIT THE NORM
The data showed that feedlot closeouts, the term used when a set of cattle is sold for slaughter and the books on their time in the feedlot are closed out, averaged 5,044 head per feedlot. This is up 290 head, or 6.10%, from May’s 4,754 head, down 1,629, or 24.4%, from June 2018’s 6,673 head and up 600, or 13.5%, from the 2013-2017 average of 4,444 head.
If the trend follows the 2013-2017 average, average Kansas feedlot closeouts will decline in July to a seasonal bottom in September. The September low is likely to be challenged by a similar low in November followed by a rise to an annual high in December.
However, last year’s unusual June spike in feedlot closeouts was the annual high, followed by a secondary high in December.
FINAL WEIGHTS NEAR AVERAGE
Along with the seasonal upturn in June Kansas feedlot closeouts came data that showed the final weights of fed steers in June were up from May and near the 2013-2017 average. They weren’t far behind last year’s final weights either.
The closeout weights of fed steers in June averaged 1,367 pounds, up two, or 0.15%, from 1,365 pounds in May but down 15, or 1.09%, from 1,382 a year earlier and down 6.6, or 0.48%, from the previous five-year average of 1,373.6 pounds.
There are strong seasonal tendencies to the direction of average monthly closeout weights from Kansas feed yards, although individual the data from individual months may vary, a bit from the average, the seasonality of feeding cattle in Kansas will pull weights back in line very soon.
Such a one-month diversion occurred in March when closeout weights declined to what likely will be the 2019 low of 1,344 pounds before rising again to almost meet the long-term average in April.
Assuming closeout weights continue to move in the same direction as the average, they will find a temporary high in October with an annual peak in December.
DAYS ON FEED STILL HIGH
But as normal as closeout volumes and weights were in June, the cattle sold to packers in June still spent more time than usual in the feedlots, the data showed.
Closed out steers in June spent an average of 191 days on feed, up one, or 0.53%, from 190 in May, up 12, or 6.70%, from 179 a year ago and up 29.6, or 18.3%, from the 2013-2017 average of 161.4.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
Cash cattle traded in Kansas Wednesday at $111 per cwt on a live basis, down $1 from last week, and at $114 in Nebraska, down $1 to $2. Dressed-basis trading occurred in eastern Nebraska at $183 to $185 per cwt, steady to up $2 from last week.
The USDA choice cutout Wednesday was down $0.49 per cwt at $213.54, while select was off $1.44 at $189.69. The choice/select spread widened to $23.85 from $22.90 with 111 loads of fabricated product sold into the spot market.
The CME Feeder Cattle index for the seven days ended Tuesday was $142.15 per cwt, up $0.07 from the previous day. This compares with Wednesday’s Aug contract settlement of $141.52, down $1.57.