light 5-weight M&L 1-2 heifers$147.21/cwt-4.75 vs last sale · ≈ $789/hd at 536 lb · 26 head
light 6-weight M&L 1-2 heifers$141.28/cwt-2.37 vs last sale · ≈ $894/hd at 633 lb · 21 head
light 5-weight M&L 1-2 steers$172.87/cwt-7.35 vs last sale · ≈ $908/hd at 525 lb · 14 head
Receipts
Head
This sale
Last sale
Last year
Total receipts
1,284
2,575
1,300
Feeder cattle
254
1,375
800
Slaughter cattle
1,000
1,100
500
Replacement cattle
30
100
0
Market comments — USDA reporter
Compared to last Thursday, not enough stocker or feeder this week for accurate trends. Most offerings today where small bunches and singles. Feeder cattle futures fell $0.80 to $1.30 on Thursday with Jan rolling off the board at $158.92 to be settled against the index tomorrow. The CME Feeder Cattle Index for 1/26 was $159.05, down by another 45 cents. Slaughter cows 4.00-9.00 higher as packers pursued numbers for harvest. Not enough slaughter bulls this week for accurate trends, Trade active with good demand. Export Sales data from the week that ended 1/20 showed 14,273 MT of beef was booked. That was up 11% wk/wk, but was just half of the same week last year. South Korea and Japan were the week’s top buyers. Japan was also the top destination for the 14,302 MT shipped during the week with 4.1k MT.
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 Thursday, not enough stocker or feeder this week for accurate trends. Most offerings today where small bunches and singles. Feeder cattle futures fell $0.80 to $1.30 on Thursday with Jan rolling off the board at $158.92 to be settled against the index tomorrow. The CME Feeder Cattle Index for 1/26 was $159.05, down by another 45 cents. Slaughter cows 4.00-9.00 higher as packers pursued numbers for harvest. Not enough slaughter bulls this week for accurate trends, Trade active with good demand. Export Sales data from the week that ended 1/20 showed 14,273 MT of beef was booked. That was up 11% wk/wk, but was just half of the same week last year. South Korea and Japan were the week’s top buyers. Japan was also the top destination for the 14,302 MT shipped during the week with 4.1k MT.