Wow - nice chart....what a rock 'n roll day it was in cattle. The market is really "testing" the strength at these high prices.
Re: your options hedges. I understand they protect you, but to me, they appear to really adversely impact the profit on the actual futures trade. No ?
....short Dec 169.625 ave and did debit spread this time of dec Calls 171/174 at plus 1.00 difference.... protective stop up to 169.575 .