Live Cattle and Feeder Cattle futures settled lower Tuesday after a strong start to the week, despite firm wholesale boxed beef reports. The December Live Cattle contract fell $2.55 to $219.45, while daily slaughter came in at 105,000 head, down 4,000 from the same day last year. November Feeder Cattle futures dropped $2.90 to $323.20, closing near session lows. In contrast, Lean Hog futures saw optimism with higher closes across the board, led by the December contract settling $1.20 higher to $71. Funds hold a net short position of about 38,000 contracts in the market, with the short side hitting a record level of over 97,000 contracts.