Cattle & Hogs
The livestock board, with the book's own cost of gain across it, and no carry column.
The curve, against what it cost to raise them
The curve slopes with the SEASON rather than with a cost of storage. Mar 2027 over Aug 2026 means the market expects that time of year to pay more, not that it will pay you to hold this animal until then.
Contracts
| Contract | Board | On the day | Against the nearby | Over book cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2026 | $249.69 | +$0.55 | +$0.00 | +$91.12 |
| Sep 2026 | $240.75 | -$0.39 | -$8.94 | +$82.18 |
| Oct 2026 | $234.13 | +$0.62 | -$15.56 | +$75.56 |
| Nov 2026 | $235.73 | -$0.01 | -$13.96 | +$77.16 |
| Jan 2027 | $256.19 | +$1.35 | +$6.50 | +$97.62 |
| Mar 2027 | $271.00 | +$0.37 | +$21.31 | +$112.43 |
Feeder Cattle trades Jan, Mar, Apr, May, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov. The gaps matter: there is no June or July feeder contract, so a midsummer sale hedges against the August contract or not at all.
Seasonal shape, and it is not the grain shape
Feeder cattle peak in spring, when buyers are bidding for something to run on summer grass, and bottom in the autumn run when every cow-calf operation in the county weans and hauls at once. That is the livestock version of harvest pressure, and unlike grain there is no storing calves through it: they are either sold or they are eating.
TODO: these indices are the desk's stated read, broadly consistent with long-run seasonal studies, and not a fit to a named data set. Same caveat as the grain page and it stays until somebody does the study.
Where it sells
| Outlet | Kind | What it is good for |
|---|---|---|
| Belleville Livestock Sales Belleville, KS | Sale barn | Price discovery on the day, no forward commitment, and whatever the ring gives you. Where most calves go, and the reason the autumn run is so punishing. |
| Concordia Livestock Auction Concordia, KS | Sale barn | Price discovery on the day, no forward commitment, and whatever the ring gives you. Where most calves go, and the reason the autumn run is so punishing. |
| Superior Sale Barn Superior, NE | Sale barn | Price discovery on the day, no forward commitment, and whatever the ring gives you. Where most calves go, and the reason the autumn run is so punishing. |
| Heartland Video Auction Manhattan, KS | Video auction | Sells cattle off a lot description weeks ahead of delivery. The closest thing the cow-calf side has to a forward contract, and the main way out of the autumn run. |
A grid sale is not a price, it is a formula: the base is known and the premiums and discounts are not settled until the carcass data comes back. On the grain side the equivalent is an HTA with the basis left open, and it has the same consequence for a client statement.