DTN Early Word Livestock Comments 10/24 06:05

DTN Early Word Livestock Comments 10/24 06:05 Early Strength May Be Difficult to Maintain The strong cash cattle trade last week pushed October and December live cattle futures to new highs. The neutral to friendly Cattle on Feed report should support the market but may already be factored in. Hogs pushed higher despite cash and cutouts propelled on further short covering. Robin Schmahl DTN Contributing Analyst Cattle: Higher Futures: Mixed Live Equiv: $187.70 +$0.81* Hogs: Higher Futures: Higher Lean Equiv: $108.87 -$2.91** *Based on formula estimating live cattle equivalent of gross packer revenue. (The Live Cattle Equiv. Index has been updated to depict recent changes in live cattle weights and grading percentages.) ** based on formula estimating lean hog equivalent of gross packer revenue. GENERAL COMMENTS: October live cattle futures posted higher highs for 14 consecutive days as the market needed to keep up with rising cash. Cash trading in the North took place at $4.00 higher on Friday. It will be interesting to see what will take place this week as not only will feedlots again hold for higher cash, but packers seem to be short bought after last week. Added to that was the neutral to friendly Cattle on Feed report. It will be up to demand to determine whether the slaughter pace will continue as strong as it has been. Boxed beef was higher with choice up $0.09 and select up $2.28.