Higher beef values help market

For the week ending Nov. 24, cash feeder steer prices at Texas auctions were lower in very light holiday week trading. Cash fed cattle prices were up $2.48 per hundredweight from the previous week as higher beef values carried over to the live cattle market.

Cotton, corn and grain sorghum prices were slightly lower. Wheat markets were sharply higher as dry conditions on the South Plains raised concerns about the 2008 crop.

As for futures markets, feeder cattle, fed cattle and wheat closed higher, while corn and cotton closed lower.

Dry and unseasonably warm weather early in the week gave way to much cooler temperatures by week's end with most areas of the state receiving at least some precipitation.

Portions of East Texas and the Upper Coast reported up to 3 inches of rain, while some locations in West Texas recorded their first snowfall of the year. However, soil moisture remains mostly short to adequate across the state.

Winter wheat was reported in fair to very poor conditions with most of the acreage in need of additional moisture. Cotton harvest was mostly complete in the Blacklands and South Texas and progressing well in the South Plains and Panhandle. Statewide, harvest is 69 percent complete, ahead of the normal 62 percent. Peanut harvest is nearing completion with condition reported mostly fair to good.

Pasture conditions continue to decline with the lack of rainfall and cooler temperatures.