DTN Midday Livestock Comments          11/24 11:54

   Cattle Trade Sharply Lower Upon Hearing About Plant Closures

   The cattle complex is trading lower as traders try to understand how the 
market is going to handle the plant closure in Nebraska long term.

ShayLe Stewart
DTN Livestock Analyst

GENERAL COMMENTS:

   The livestock complex is trading mixed into Monday's noon hour as the cattle 
contracts are trading at or near their daily limit lower, but the lean hog 
contracts are trading mildly higher. Showlists are higher in all major feeding 
regions. December corn is down 1 1/2 cents per bushel and January soybean meal 
is unchanged. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 198.93 points and NASDAQ 
is up 550.19 points.

LIVE CATTLE:

   It's a painstaking morning -- there's no other way to put it. Following 
Tyson Food's announcement on Friday that they're closing their plant in 
Lexington, Nebraska, and going to reduce their throughput in Amarillo, Texas, 
to only a single shift per day -- the market has taken the news poorly. Having 
sufficient shackle space is a big concern for grassroot producers and the 
thought of losing availability is rather concerning. December live cattle are 
down $7.25 at $207.20, February live cattle are down $7.25 at $207.52 and April 
live cattle are down $7.25 at $207.90. Showlists are higher in all major 
feeding regions.

   Last week, Northern dressed cattle were marked at mostly $345, $6 lower than 
the prior week's weighted average basis Nebraska. Southern live deals were 
marked at $222 to $224, $4 to $6 lower than the previous week's weighted 
average.

   Boxed beef prices are lower: choice down $1.45 ($370.03) and select down 
$0.66 ($356.32) with a movement of 73 loads (46.97 loads of choice, 11.26 loads 
of select, 8.81 loads of trim and 5.60 loads of ground beef).

FEEDER CATTLE:

   The feeder cattle complex dropped $9.25 (its daily trading limit) right from 
the day's get-go as traders fully believed that the only direction that the 
market could go on Monday was lower. January feeders are down $9.25 at $304.97, 
March feeders are down $9.25 at $297.80 and April feeders are down $9.25 at 
$296.10. It's unlikely that the market finds any significant support ahead of 
the day's close.

LEAN HOGS:

   But adversely, the lean hog complex is trading higher into Monday's noon 
hour as the market sees the chaos in the cattle sector as potentially room for 
increased demand in the hog sector. December lean hogs are up $0.35 at $78.15, 
February lean hogs are up $1.35 at $79.05 and April lean hogs are up $1.12 at 
$82.42. Pork cutout values are up slightly this morning too, but more than 
anything, traders seem to be finding some technical footing in the market.

   The projected lean hog index for 11/21/2025 is down $1.20 at $83.61, and the 
actual index for 11/20/2025 is down $0.90 at $84.81. Hog prices are unavailable 
on the Daily Direct Morning Hog Report because no hogs have traded yet. The 
only thing we can see this morning is that the five-day rolling average still 
sits at $74.35. Pork cutouts total 175.43 loads with 152.79 loads of pork cuts 
and 22.64 loads of trim. Pork cutout values: up $0.20, $93.63.

   ShayLe Stewart can be reached at shayle.stewart@dtn.com




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