Compared to last week: Slaughter steers and heifers 3.00 to 5.00 lower, instances to 6.00 lower on heifers. Holstein steers 3.00 to 5.00 lower. Light to moderate demand for this large offering of hard fed, high quality grading steers and heifers. Packers were much more reserved in their bidding and were determined to buy cattle lower as the boxed beef market declines rapidly. Two way buyers stepped into the breach and helped to keep the market from falling further as they were willing to buy 1500 lbs steers and 1400 lbs heifers that looked to be a value. Weighing conditions ranged from full to fair making an estimated dressed cost of 161.00-166.00. The cattle were predominately clean hided and attractive but found a market that was not very active. Slaughter cows 2.00 to 4.00 lower than Monday’s sale, bulls steady to 2.00 lower.
Slaughter lambs 5.00 to 10.00 lower, except those lambs weighing 100-110 mostly steady. Feeder lambs not well tested to compare with this week. Slaughter ewes steady to firm in a narrow comparison. Moderate demand for this extremely large offering of slaughter lambs, including 4 full loads of lambs of traditional slaughter weights. A large offering of light lambs that looked to be able to go two directions, either straight to slaughter or back to the country to feed and were met with very good demand. Good demand for the packages of replacement quality ewes and ewe lambs. Good demand for the limited offering of slaughter ewes.
USDA feeder grades describe frame size and muscle thickness, not quality of
the individual animal. "Medium and Large" is the frame score; the number is
muscle (1 = heaviest muscled). "Medium and Large 1–2" pens mix both muscle
scores — common across the Southeast.
What is $/cwt?
Dollars per hundredweight — per 100 lb of animal. A 500-lb calf at
$450/cwt brings 5 × $450 = $2,250. Lighter cattle usually bring more per
cwt but less per head.
Why are some prices per head?
Bred cows, cow-calf pairs, and some replacement classes sell by the
head, not by weight. We show those exactly as USDA reports them — a
$/head figure is never converted into $/cwt on this site.
Where do these numbers come from?
From the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service's Livestock Market News —
federal reporters at the sale. We publish each report in full and link the
official USDA document at the top of the page.
Cattle Market
Compared to last week: Slaughter steers and heifers 3.00 to 5.00 lower, instances to 6.00 lower on heifers. Holstein steers 3.00 to 5.00 lower. Light to moderate demand for this large offering of hard fed, high quality grading steers and heifers. Packers were much more reserved in their bidding and were determined to buy cattle lower as the boxed beef market declines rapidly. Two way buyers stepped into the breach and helped to keep the market from falling further as they were willing to buy 1500 lbs steers and 1400 lbs heifers that looked to be a value. Weighing conditions ranged from full to fair making an estimated dressed cost of 161.00-166.00. The cattle were predominately clean hided and attractive but found a market that was not very active. Slaughter cows 2.00 to 4.00 lower than Monday’s sale, bulls steady to 2.00 lower. Slaughter lambs 5.00 to 10.00 lower, except those lambs weighing 100-110 mostly steady. Feeder lambs not well tested to compare with this week. Slaughter ewes steady to firm in a narrow comparison. Moderate demand for this extremely large offering of slaughter lambs, including 4 full loads of lambs of traditional slaughter weights. A large offering of light lambs that looked to be able to go two directions, either straight to slaughter or back to the country to feed and were met with very good demand. Good demand for the packages of replacement quality ewes and ewe lambs. Good demand for the limited offering of slaughter ewes.