Front month live cattle futures were ended the day with $0.80 to $1.87 gains led by the Feb contract. Feeders were also in the black, though were weaker having closed $0.17 to $1.05 stronger. Last week’s cash sales were near $171. The CME Feeder Cattle Index was a penny stronger to $219.81. The monthly Cattle on Feed report counted 12.006m head, a 2.7% increase from last year’s Dec 1 count. Placements were listed at 1.868 million head, a 1.9% decrease yr/yr. Nov marketings were 1.751m head, a 7.4% decrease. USDA’s Wholesale Boxed Beef prices weakened in Tuesday morning’s update, with Choice do…