Producers continue to hold back feeder cattle

Feeder cattle numbers continue to decline with 18,100 head at the test auction compared to over 21,000 head last week and over 25,000 head last year. Prices were mostly $1-11 lower but did improve on some, especially if they were thinner and light enough to go to grazing. 

Likewise, there were fewer slaughter cows with only 3,200 head at the test auctions which was down over 1,000 head from the previous week. Prices started to improve and were mostly $5-7 higher, but a few auctions with small numbers were even higher.