The Morning Wire / Thu Jul 16, 2026

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The Morning Wire

The trading day in one page — Thu, Jul 16
● Written from USDA reportsEvery figure as filed
← Jul 15Jul 16Jul 17 →

The market in a line

Thu, Jul 16
Choice cutout closed $2.90 lower at $368.38. 26 barns across 16 states reported 1,584 priced lots.

Feeder steers

National, week of Jul 13 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 lb561.99/cwt$9.47 lower2,710143
400-499 lb480.51/cwt$22.70 lower4,862153
500-599 lb439.15/cwt$20.33 lower7,617158
600-699 lb405.54/cwt$23.07 lower7,750156
700-799 lb370.47/cwt$16.59 lower5,424133
800-899 lb351.29/cwt$10.62 lower7,38573

Barn by barn, 500–599 lb steers

Same day, same class USDA
Every barn that sold at least 20 head of this class on Thu, Jul 16, weighted by head. Spread of $78.57 between the top and bottom of 16 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
Stanford Livestock AuctionKY467.06/cwt127
New Cambria Livestock MarketMO460.84/cwt53
Farmers and Ranchers Livestock Commission - KansasKS452.58/cwt76
Clarinda Livestock AuctionIA452.45/cwt37
Woodward Livestock IncOK450.26/cwt35
Benton County Sale BarnAR440.70/cwt29
Tulia Livestock AuctionTX438.99/cwt54
Mo-Kan Livestock MarketMO436.46/cwt71
Virginia Livestock, LLCVA427.25/cwt20
Apache Livestock AuctionOK425.66/cwt66
Mid Missouri StockyardsMO423.37/cwt83
I-40 Livestock AuctionAR420.63/cwt57
Athens Regional Stockyard - Athens, TNTN409.34/cwt110
Producers Livestock Auction Co - San AngeloTX408.61/cwt24
Fairview Livestock AuctionIL402.17/cwt46
Hope Livestock Auction Inc.AR388.49/cwt36

Boxed beef

PM close · Jul 16 USDA
Choice $368.38, $2.90 lower. Select $355.69, $3.49 lower. The Choice–Select spread stands at $12.69. 139 loads traded.

Fed cattle

Negotiated cash, week to date USDA
26,830 head traded Jul 10–Jul 16.
RegionBasisPriceHead
Iowa-MinnesotaDressed Delivered380.782,278
Iowa-MinnesotaDressed FOB390.0070
Iowa-MinnesotaLive Delivered242.791,036
Iowa-MinnesotaLive FOB241.007,557
KansasDressed FOB372.0072
KansasLive Delivered235.00213

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.

Compared to last week, feeder steers and heifers sold 5.00-15.00 lower across all weight classes with the exception of 600 lb steer calves selling 5.00 - 10.00 higher. Steer calves under 550 lbs and heifer calves under 500 lbs not enough for market test. Good demand on a lighter supply.

Farmers and Ranchers Livestock Commission - Kansas · Kansas

Compared to last week: Feeder steers and feeder heifers 15.00 to 25.00 lower. Steer calves and heifer calves 20.00 to 30.00 lower. Quality average to attractive with weak demand. Slaughter cows steady to 2.00 lower. Slaughter bulls 7.00 lower.

Apache Livestock Auction · Oklahoma

No recent sale for a market trend. Demand was good. Feeder cattle and live cattle boards have closed in the red most of the week, and negotiated cash fat cattle trading 10.00-11.00 lower.

Tulia Livestock Auction · Texas

Compared to last reported sale (6-18-26): The last reported sale was one month ago. Feeder cattle were too lightly tested to develop any market trend. Quality was mixed with lots of variation noticed. Demand was moderate for light offerings. Group sizes were small with many singles noticed.

Billings Livestock Commission · Montana

Compared to last week: Feeder steers sold 10.00-15.00 lower. Feeder heifers under 400lbs sold 15.00-20.00 higher, over 400lbs 10.00-15.00 lower. Slaughter cows sold 5.00-7.00 higher. Slaughter bulls sold 10.00-15.00 higher.

Benton County Sale Barn · Arkansas

No recently tested market for a price comparison, undertone sharply lower. Pretty light offering highlighted by a large consignment of Char-cross heifers all originating from one ranch. Beyond that it was lots of singles and small packages of cattle.

New Cambria Livestock Market · Missouri

Compared to last Thursday: Feeder steers under 800 lbs steady, 800 lbs and up sharply lower, Feeder heifers under 500 lbs sharply lower, 500-600 lbs steady, 700 lbs and up sharply lower, Good demand for weaned and vaccinated packages of calves and moderate demand for the fleshy bawling calves and th…

Stanford Livestock Auction · Kentucky

Compared to last week: Feeder steers sold 14.00-22.00, mostly 18.00 lower. Feeder heifers under 400 lbs sold 20.00 lower, 400-600 lbs sold 5.00-9.00 lower, over 600 lbs sold 10.00 higher. Feeder supply was mostly Fleshy, unweaned, average in quality. Slaughter cows and bulls sold 3.00-4.00 lower.

I-40 Livestock Auction · Arkansas

Cows and bulls

National direct, dressed USDA
ClassPriceDirectionHead
Breaker (75% lean)317.71/cwt$0.69 higher396
Boner (85% lean)332.24/cwt$2.82 lower1,169
Cutter (90% lean)329.94/cwt$3.05 lower2,502
Premium White327.19/cwt$2.30 lower1,566
Bull (92% lean)374.69/cwt$1.96 lower342

What published

See every report →
59 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.