CHICAGO, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Live cattle futures on Monday rose to their highest level in more than a month before retreating as traders waited to see the impact of wintry weather on livestock in the central U.S.
Feeder cattle futures finished higher.
Producers across the Plains have been preparing for severe weather, including snow, wind and falling temperatures that can disrupt cattle shipments to processing plants and cause livestock to gain less weight.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture warned of blizzard conditions in a daily weather report.
CME February live cattle futures closed down 0.625 cent at 169.950 cents per pound after touching the highest price since Nov. 30.
March feeder cattle advanced 0.925 cent to 225.075 cents per pound.
The U.S. reported the choice boxed beef cutout rose $1.67 to $278.83 per cwt, while prices for select cuts eased.
Recent declines in wholesale beef prices offset concerns in the futures markets about the potential for winter storms to disrupt meat production, said Rich Nelson, chief strategist for brokerage Allendale.
Packers are already losing money processing cattle into beef due to high prices for the animals. On Monday, they were losing an estimated $145.75 per head, HedgersEdge.com said.
"Packers are definitely going to be running a little bit in the red for this week's processing and should be more reluctant buyers," Nelson said.
Meatpackers slaughtered an estimated 115,000 cattle on Monday, down from 124,000 head on Friday and 127,000 cattle a year ago, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) said. They slaughtered 489,000 hogs, unchanged from Friday and a year ago.
CME lean hogs rose on hopes that U.S. cash prices had potentially reached a bottom, Nelson said. February futures finished up 0.600 cent at 70.600 cents per pound and hit the highest price since Dec. 26.
The USDA said the wholesale pork carcass cutout value increased $0.82 to $85.02 per cwt.
In China, the world's biggest pork producer and consumer, the government plans to release frozen pork from state reserves on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Tom Polansek in Chicago; Editing by Shweta Agarwal)
