3/30/15 was unchanged at +59.70. Well, it wasn't completely unchanged - it was actually down 0.0011 but when you do the rounding thing it prints as "Unchanged." There is a hint here that packers are interested enough in hogs that they are now going to be sweetening their bid prices a little. Now to see if the noon reports validate that early hint.

The six-day moving average carcass weight trickled a bit lower to 214.39#. That is down -0.64# from last year but it is +6.68# over the same date in 2013. This suggests to me that producers are still liquidating a few heavies and are getting a bit more current in their shipments. Heavy hogs are more efficient for packers to process so this 210# to 215# range may be the new norm. Liquidating back down to the 2013 level would put quite a few more in the kill-mix.

Looking at the way the MMMs took off, I feel mighty lucky to have paid commissions and put a little change in my pocket on the pair of MMMs I sold this morning. I was not quite as lucky on a pair of ZZZs I had sold in front of the report.

Best wishes,

dhm