Last week was a total home run for the cattle complex as fundamental support poured into the marketplace. Thankfully, at the start of this new week, traders seem ambitious to keep with last week's snappy trend.

Last week's success stemmed from four main factors: traders' willingness to continue to support the contracts, Friday's bullish Cattle on Feed report, the rally in the fed cash cattle market and an aggressive slaughter pace.

Even though the fed cash cattle market waited until late last week to trade, traders remained dedicated to the market and believed that fundamental support would indeed shine through. Thankfully, their faithfulness was met with blessings by the week's end.

On Friday afternoon, the monthly Cattle on Feed report shared that on-feed totals were steady compared to a year ago, placements were down 12% compared to a year ago totaling 1.78 million head, and marketings were down 7% compared to a year ago. The big kicker about Friday's placements was that it was a record low for the month of September and was the third consecutive month in a row of record-low placements.

Although it felt as if the fed cash cattle market would never trade, cattle did end up trading and feedlot managers made packers pay. Last week, Northern dressed cattle traded from $355 to $365, but mostly at $365, which is $15 higher than the previous week's weighted average. Southern live cattle traded anywhere from $225 to $228, but mostly at $227, which is $3 higher than the previous week's weighted average.

Last but certainly not least, it was positive for the industry to see that last week's slaughter totaled 546,000 head, as hopefully packers will continue with their aggressive slaughter speeds and remain aggressive in the cash market.

All that to say, the cattle complex is chock-full of fundamental support right now, and thankfully, with traders' help, the market is rallying with plenty of potential still ahead of it. It is fully assumed that fed cash cattle prices will be at least steady again this week, if not higher, as last week's trade was only a mere 40,000 head.

ShayLe Stewart can be reached at ShayLe.Stewart@dtn.com

(c) Copyright 2026 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.