The Morning Wire / Sat Jul 18, 2026

Feeder Cattle — prices, barns, and planning

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The Morning Wire

The trading day in one page — Sat, Jul 18
● Written from USDA reportsEvery figure as filed
← Jul 17Jul 18Jul 20 →

The market in a line

Sat, Jul 18
Choice cutout closed $1.57 lower at $366.81. 9 barns across 4 states reported 563 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

Boxed beef

PM close · Jul 17 USDA
Choice $366.81, $1.57 lower. Select $355.29, $0.40 lower. The Choice–Select spread stands at $11.52. 111 loads traded.

Fed cattle

Negotiated cash, week to date USDA
22,134 head traded Jul 11–Jul 17.
RegionBasisPriceHead
Iowa-MinnesotaDressed Delivered377.662,531
Iowa-MinnesotaDressed FOB372.0040
Iowa-MinnesotaLive Delivered242.461,026
Iowa-MinnesotaLive FOB237.065,721
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 Saturday the feeder market was mostly lower with an average quality offering. Feeder steers 450 lbs and under appeared steady to 5.00 lower with a good supply, while the 500-700 lbs steers and the yearling steers were sharply lower with moderate demand.

Somerset Livestock Auction · Kentucky

Compared to last week all classes of Feeder Cattle 10.00 to 15.00 lower; Slaughter Cows/Bulls mostly steady

Carthage Livestock Auction · Tennessee

Compared to last Saturday: Feeder steers and feeder heifers sold unevenly steady on a varied quality offering of feeders. Slaughter cows and bulls sold steady.

Campbellsville Livestock Auction · Kentucky

No trends established, due to lack of comparable sales. However lower undertones were noted on Feeder Cattle.

Crossville Livestock Auction · Tennessee

No market trends available due to limited comparable receipts, however, lower-quality offerings and a sharply lower undertone was noted for feeder classes. Decline in feeder cattle prices due in part to the recent downturn in the futures market.

Greenville Livestock Auction - Greenville, TN · Tennessee

Cows and bulls

National direct, dressed USDA
ClassPriceDirectionHead
Breaker (75% lean)319.60/cwt$1.89 higher554
Boner (85% lean)331.16/cwt$1.08 lower1,903
Cutter (90% lean)332.59/cwt$2.65 higher3,009
Premium White327.27/cwt$0.08 higher2,601
Bull (92% lean)371.93/cwt$2.76 lower514

What published

See every report →
10 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.