Front month lean hog futures are mostly higher with higher with gains of 25 to 67 cents, save for April and May contracts. USDA’s National Average Morning Base Hog price was down 55 cents to $55.93. The 1/28 CME Lean Hog Index was up another 11 cents to $67.40. Pork cutout futures are 7 to 55 cents higher, save for April contracts. The National Pork Carcass Cutout value was higher in the AM quote, up $1.14 to $86.50. Butts were the only primal to drop in value, down $1.31 to $76.94. on Friday afternoon to $85.36 on strength in hams. USDA’s estimate for the week’s FI hog slaughter is 2.658m head. That is 38k head below last year’s pace.

--- provided by Brugler Marketing & Management