Week ending Jan. 5, 2024

For the week of Jan.5th, the markets trended higher in the Northern Plains and nonexistent
in the Southern Plains. Northern cattle were $4 higher at $175 for fed cattle, while feeder cattle
were $2 higher and stockers were $3 higher.

Fed cattle were up from $172 last week to $175 — a bit of an upswing. USDA
carcass weights showed to be 942 lb., which is relatively the same compared to 941 lb. from the
previous week. This is up from 920 lb. a year ago.

Feeder cattle came in at $226.40, which is $2.29 higher. Stockers traded at $274.74, $3.37
higher from last week. The Choice cutout was $15.77 lower at $277.16, while the Choice/Select
spread was $17.63, which was $14.15 narrower. Cutter cow cutout was up by $2.42 at $205.24.

Total red meat production was estimated at 986.9 million lb., which happened to be 8.2 percent
higher than last week. Cumulative meat production for the year was 0.1 percent higher from
the previous year.