Rising futures 📈

Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) live cattle futures rose on Friday. A robust slaughter pace and concerns about reduced cattle supplies fueled buying and resulted in higher equities and energy markets. 

• Meanwhile, drought in the southern plains has scorched grazing pastures and triggered a larger-than-normal cull of the breeding herd. So, expect beef cattle supplies to tighten – and stay that way – in the coming years.

Additionally:

• The USDA confirmed that the fed cattle slaughter on the week before Labor Day was the largest for any week so far this year.

• Benchmark live cattle rose.

• Feeder cattle followed higher live cattle, despite rising corn feed prices on Friday. 
• Lean hog futures also rose.