Bids for slaughter cattle hit a record $170 per 100 pounds last week amid limited supplies in Kansas, Texas, Nebraska and Colorado, says Beef Today. Cash prices were up $6 per 100 pounds on live cattle. The record was set the day before USDA’s Cattle of Feed report said there are 10.1 million head of cattle in U.S. feedlots, 1 percent less than a year ago. Some 1.68 million head were sent to slaughter during September, 1 percent less than the previous September.
Livestock analyst Scott Plain of the University of Missouri said he expected the United States to appeal the adverse WTO decision against U.S. country of origin meat labels, followed by a revision of the rules. That’s the path the administration took after a 2012 decision, he wrote, and, “I predict the same course of action this time.”