Cattle futures had a solid Wednesday showing. Live cattle contracts closed up somewhere between $4.20 and $4.50, with open interest climbing 829 contracts. That Wednesday morning the Fed Cattle Exchange auction didn't see any actual trades on the 1,224 head they had, bids sitting at $238. On the feeder side, things looked even better with mid-week gains hitting $6.70 to $7.65. The CME Feeder Cattle Index took a small dip though, dropping 66 cents to $368.93 back on March 3. Wholesale beef prices were moving higher too. Choice boxes picked up 52 cents to $388.57 while Select jumped $1.77 to $380.35. That spread between Choice and Select narrowed down to $8.22, which is worth watching. USDA reported Wednesday's federally inspected cattle slaughter at 111,000 head, bringing the week's total to 322,000. That's running about 2,000 head behind the previous week and roughly 22,500 short of last year's same week. The April quotes closed at $238.35 up $4.23, June at $235.18 up $4.50, and August at $233.23 up $4.33. Feeder cattle also showed strength with March quotes at $363.93 up $6.73, April at $360.75 up $7.45, and May at $357 up $7.65. Interesting to see if this momentum carries into Thursday's trading.