Direct cash cattle trade is off to a slow start again.  Bids have yet to surface.  Asking prices are starting out around $140 plus live in the South, while nothing has been established in the North.  It’s likely the bulk of the week’s business will take place Wednesday or later. 

Boxed beef is mixed at midday on light to moderate demand for light offerings.  Choice is $.87 higher at $264.74 and Select is $1.42 lower at $265.90.  The Choice/Select spread is $9.84. 

At the Joplin Regional Stockyard in Missouri, compared to the previous week’s sale feeder steers were steady to $6 higher and feeder heifers were steady. 

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