Live cattle negotiated prices in the south hit $155/cwt this week, while in the north they reached $157, and still some sellers held out for more. Negotiated dressed prices averaged $245/cwt.  

Slaughter last week was down due to the Thanksgiving holiday but was still higher than the same week last year and the largest Thanksgiving week volume since 2006. Much of that was still due to cow slaughter, which will soon go into steep decline, likely adding pressure to fed cattle – especially with fewer heifers in the mix. That will be a steep drop.  USDA is still forecasting beef imports for next year to be 3.35 billion pounds, down slightly from the 2022 forecast of 3.376 billion pounds. However, with lower cow slaughte...