Brett Wessler  |   January 31, 2012

A survey of cattle-industry leaders suggests the average price for cash cattle will decrease $1.08 to $122.78 per cwt this week.

The Monday Market Sentiment is a forecast of the upcoming weekly cash trade (5-Area weighted average price) prices reported by the USDA. This week prices decreased, ending a two-week streak higher, gaining $4.78 in that time. Last week the USDA announced cash trade for the week ending January 27 was 123.86, $1.87 lower than the previous week.

Last week’s Cattle Inventory report revealed herd sizes are smaller than experts predicted. Packer margins showed little change from the previous week, but boxed beef prices closed over $2 per hundredweight higher last Friday and beef prices my continue to rise.

Each week Drovers CattleNetwork awards a $100 gift certificate from Cabela's to the industry leader whose forecast comes closest to the 5-Area cash trade number reported by the USDA. The most recent winner was Terry Ryan, JBS Five Rivers.