The Morning Wire / Wed Jul 8, 2026

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The Morning Wire

The trading day in one page — Wed, Jul 8
● Written from USDA reportsEvery figure as filed
← Jul 7Jul 8Jul 9 →

The market in a line

Wed, Jul 8
Choice cutout closed $4.57 lower at $381.20. 48 barns across 21 states reported 3,232 priced lots.

Feeder steers

National, week of Jul 6 USDA
Weighted across every reported lot, by weight class. Weekly rather than daily — one day's barns are too thin a base for a national figure.
WeightPricevs prior weekHeadBarns
300-399 lb571.46/cwt$19.86 lower2,144131
400-499 lb503.21/cwt$11.90 lower4,451146
500-599 lb459.48/cwt$9.43 lower7,211146
600-699 lb428.61/cwt$5.56 lower7,965143
700-799 lb387.06/cwt$7.77 lower5,734132
800-899 lb361.91/cwt$1.53 higher8,06086

Barn by barn, 500–599 lb steers

Same day, same class USDA
Every barn that sold at least 20 head of this class on Wed, Jul 8, weighted by head. Spread of $110.77 between the top and bottom of 20 barns. An average moves with the cattle that showed up as much as with the buyers in the seats — a yard with better grade will average higher on the same demand. This is where the money landed, not a verdict on the barn.
BarnStateAverageHead
Russell Springs Livestock AuctionKY524.17/cwt63
Mount Sterling Livestock AuctionKY515.83/cwt78
BassettNE499.69/cwt59
Windsor Livestock AuctionMO487.30/cwt144
Clovis Livestock AuctionNM476.79/cwt137
Winter Livestock - Dodge CityKS472.23/cwt54
Springfield Livestock Marketing CenterMO471.53/cwt108
Albany Livestock AuctionKY471.23/cwt62
South Central Regional StockyardsMO468.34/cwt127
McMinnville Livestock AuctionTN453.02/cwt167
North Wilkesboro Livestock AuctionNC452.47/cwt22
North Arkansas Livestock AuctionAR451.86/cwt40
Farmington Regional StockyardsMO448.85/cwt76
Southern Oklahoma Livestock AuctionOK444.07/cwt84
County Line Sale BarnAR440.64/cwt22
AshburnGA438.14/cwt47
AthensGA436.60/cwt22
Arcadia Stockyard (Wed)FL433.95/cwt33
Savannah Livestock AuctionTN416.74/cwt34
Campbellsville Livestock AuctionKY413.40/cwt53

Boxed beef

PM close · Jul 8 USDA
Choice $381.20, $4.57 lower. Select $363.09, $2.80 lower. The Choice–Select spread stands at $18.11. 119 loads traded.

Fed cattle

Negotiated cash, week to date USDA
16,391 head traded Jul 2–Jul 8.
RegionBasisPriceHead
Iowa-MinnesotaDressed Delivered403.0024
Iowa-MinnesotaDressed FOB400.0080
Iowa-MinnesotaLive Delivered256.891,263
Iowa-MinnesotaLive FOB254.983,360
KansasDressed FOB401.50141
KansasLive FOB254.537,717

At the barns

USDA market reporters, as filed USDA
One barn per state, largest first — more states file than fit here. Your own state is linked below.

Today's Annual BBQ Auction featuring Fall calves and yearlings started the day at 8:30 am. Compared with two weeks ago steers and heifers traded unevenly steady. Demand was good with several buyers and active internet bidding throughout the day.

Bassett · Nebraska

Compared to last week: Slaughter steers 4.00 to 5.00 lower, heifers 8.00 to 10.00 lower. Moderate to good demand for this offering of hard fed, high quality grading steers and heifers. The market was under pressure this week, yet there was still decent activity.

Sioux Falls Regional Livestock · South Dakota

Compared to the last feeder cattle sale two weeks ago, steers sold unevenly, from 5.00 higher on 400-600lb steers, to 8.00 lower on heavier weights. Heifers sold mostly 3.00 to 10.00 lower.

Springfield Livestock Marketing Center · Missouri

*Hall of Fame Sale, Saturday, July 25, 2026* Compared to two weeks ago, steers over 700 lbs and heifers over 650 lbs sold steady, strong undertone. Steers under 750 lbs and heifers under 650 lbs, not well tested, soft undertone noted.

Winter Livestock - Dodge City · Kansas

Compared to last week. Steers steady to 10.00 higher with higher trend on some classes. Heifers 8.00 to 15.00 higher. Quality was plain to average with a very good demand with the very high temperatures in the area.

Southern Oklahoma Livestock Auction · Oklahoma

Compared to two weeks ago: Slaughter cattle sold steady to 2.00 higher. Replacement cattle sold firm. Feeder cattle sold 1.00 to 4.00 higher. Trade active with high demand on feeder cattle.

Kilpatrick Stockyards · Alabama

Compared to the last sale two weeks ago, steers sold steady to 5.00 lower but the lower was hard to tell with very good demand and an active market. Heifers sold uneven from steady to 5.00 lower to 10.00 higher on a nice offering of 550-625 lb heifers. Demand was good for a moderate supply.

Windsor Livestock Auction · Missouri

Compared to last week light run, steers and heifers sold uneven, from 8.00 lower to 20.00 higher. Slaughter cows sold 5.00 higher and bulls sold 3.00 higher.

Farmington Regional Stockyards · Missouri

Cows and bulls

National direct, dressed USDA
ClassPriceDirectionHead
Breaker (75% lean)317.48/cwt$5.22 higher403
Boner (85% lean)334.19/cwt$1.66 lower1,475
Cutter (90% lean)331.17/cwt$5.93 lower2,719
Premium White329.18/cwt$0.44 higher1,868
Bull (92% lean)375.74/cwt$2.02 higher226

What published

See every report →
90 USDA reports carried this date — sale barns, state summaries, video and board sales, grain, hay and the national desks.
Source: USDA AMS. Every figure is USDA's as filed, and the direction words — higher, lower, steady— follow the arithmetic rather than an opinion. Quoted comment is the work of USDA market reporters, credited to the sale it came from. This is RaisedBeef's rendering of USDA data, not a copy of USDA's document and not endorsed by USDA.