USDA drastically lowers 2025 beef production | Weekly Livestock Market Update

Brownfield Ag News

Brownfield's Meghan Grebner and livestock economist Scott Brown talk about the USDA lowering their 2025 beef production estimates in this episode of Weekly Livestock Market Update.

This week in the markets:

Live fed cattle prices are $3.40 higher on the week, while feeder cattle markets were $3 to $8 lower on the week. February live cattle were up $6.20 on the week, and January feeder cattle were up $1.75 on the week. Choice box beef was $3.35 higher this week. Cash hogs were $0.75 higher this week. February lean hog futures were down $1.85 on the week. Pork cutout values were $3.00 higher this week.

Weekly Slaughter:

At the end of the week, cattle slaughter was 609,000 head, down 5,000 on the week but down 38,000 for the year. Hog slaughter was 2.573 million head, down 29,000 from the previous week and down 122,000 on the year. Year-to-date cattle slaughter is down 3.7% relative to last year, and hog slaughter is up 0.7%.

WASDE:

USDA’s supply and demand report lowered 2025 beef production by 615 million pounds due in large part to the assumption that the Mexican border is closed to feeder cattle. A reopening of feeder cattle from Mexico would likely result in USDA adjusting 2025 beef production higher. USDA raised 2025 beef imports by 195 million pounds over their November estimate. USDA increased 2025 cattle and hog prices by $3 this month, pushing fed cattle prices to $1.91. USDA did lower the 2024/25 soybean meal price by $20 per ton this month.

Retail Prices:

The retail price of choice beef was $8.32 per pound in November 2024, up 2.7% from October 2024. Year-to-date retail beef prices are 3% above the same period in 2023. The pork retail price was $4.95 per pound in November 2024, up 0.6% from October. Boneless pork chops jumped 6.3% in November relative to October.

Next week's reports:

» Livestock Slaughter

» Cattle on Feed

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