Brett Wessler  |   January 10, 2012

A survey of cattle-industry leaders suggests the average price for cash cattle will fall $0.43 to $120.52 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. Cash cattle prices have decreased $3.65 in the previous two weeks to $120.95 last week.

Industry leaders expect cash cattle prices to fall for the third consecutive week, but note the decline is slowing. Cattle feeders lost an average of $64 on every animal sold last week. Packers are also posting losses again, but are making about $8 per head more than the previous week.

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 Warren White, Mc6 Cattle Feeders.