Hog contracts firm slightly amid sluggish buying interest - CME

Oct 06, 2025

Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) cattle futures rebounded on technical buying on Friday, though declining wholesale beef prices and weaker cash markets have weighed on prices, Reuters reported, citing analysts.

CME December live cattle rose 1.025 cents to end at 234.50 cents per pound. CME November feeder cattle rose 3.025 cents to end at 355.425 cents per pound.

CME December hogs closed 0.625 cent higher to end at 87.3 cents per pound. A lack of buying interest has weighed on lean hog futures.

Wholesale beef prices have mostly continued a seasonal decline. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported choice cuts of beef fell 95 cents to $362.27 per hundredweight as of Friday afternoon. Select cuts rose by $1.98 to $345.38 per cwt.

Commodity markets may be left with limited USDA data in the coming days after a US government shutdown started on Wednesday, amid political deadlock over short-term funding measures.

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Video: Sow Reproduction in Free-Choice Barns - Dr. William Flowers

In this episode of The Swine it Podcast Show Canada, Dr. William Flowers from North Carolina State University explains sow reproductive performance and behaviors in free-choice gestation barns. He discusses social hierarchy, stress responses, feeding behavior, and the influence of housing design on fertility outcomes. Understand how sow interactions can affect production results and management decisions. Listen now on all major platforms!

“Overall, sows, even the dominant sows, choose to spend about 70% of their time in the stall portion.”

Meet the guest: Dr. William Flowers / william-flowers-998b348a is the William Neal Reynolds and Alumni Distinguished Professor of Animal Science at North Carolina State University. His teaching covers swine production and reproductive management, while his research focuses on improving fertility in swine. Dr. Flowers holds a B.S. in Animal Science from Virginia Tech and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Missouri. Listen to The Swine it Podcast Show Canada with Dr. William Flowers on all major platforms.