Live Cattle Futures Trading Higher

October live cattle is trading at 102.30, up 0.42 cents/lb. December live cattle is trading at 103.65, up 0.60 cents/lb. February live cattle is trading at 104.20, up 0.40 cents/lb. Live cattle futures are trading choppy and higher just after the open. Chatter about consumer demand and cash prices is making the rounds. Friday's USDA cattle slaughter was 106,000 head and Saturday's was 53,000. The total for the week was 605,000 head versus 611,000 the previous week and up 9.6 percent from last year. Beef production for the week was up 7.7 percent from a year ago.