The Morning Wire / Tue Aug 18, 2026

Feeder Cattle — prices, barns, and planning

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The Morning Wire

The trading day in one page — Tue, Aug 18
● Written from USDA reportsEvery figure as filed
← Aug 17Aug 18Aug 19 →

The market in a line

Tue, Aug 18
Choice cutout closed $11.58 higher at $391.15. 51 barns across 21 states reported 2,820 priced lots.

Feeder steers

National, week of Aug 17 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 lb524.56/cwt$11.97 lower2,560133
400-499 lb442.46/cwt$11.63 lower4,267143
500-599 lb396.78/cwt$5.05 lower5,729147
600-699 lb361.20/cwt$12.69 lower5,634143
700-799 lb338.19/cwt$15.84 lower5,032117
800-899 lb328.98/cwt$9.99 lower6,27685

Barn by barn, 500–599 lb steers

Same day, same class USDA
Every barn that sold at least 20 head of this class on Tue, Aug 18, weighted by head. Spread of $71.94 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
Springfield Livestock Auction - KentuckyKY429.54/cwt50
Producers Livestock Marketing - Salina, UTUT414.33/cwt62
Beaver Livestock AuctionOK410.76/cwt309
Flemingsburg Livestock AuctionKY404.88/cwt35
Lonestar StockyardsTX397.64/cwt76
OKC West Livestock MarketOK397.08/cwt164
Ozarks Regional StockyardsMO395.13/cwt98
McAlester Union StockyardsOK393.17/cwt40
Knoxville Livestock Auction - Knoxville, TNTN392.93/cwt39
Cullman StockyardsAL389.92/cwt36
Shelby Livestock AuctionNC382.64/cwt27
Uniontown StockyardsAL380.96/cwt102
Upton Livestock AuctionKY378.39/cwt20
Brookhaven Livestock AuctionMS371.64/cwt30
Athens Regional Stockyard - Athens, TNTN371.12/cwt35
Ledbetter Livestock AuctionKY367.34/cwt27
Townsend Livestock MarketFL362.86/cwt34
Cattlemen's Livestock Auction Market, IncFL362.33/cwt40
Letohatchee StockyardsAL360.12/cwt105
ThomasvilleGA357.60/cwt23

Boxed beef

PM close · Aug 18 USDA
Choice $391.15, $11.58 higher. Select $366.29, $2.03 higher. The Choice–Select spread stands at $24.86. 118 loads traded.

Fed cattle

Negotiated cash, week to date USDA
23,779 head traded Aug 12–Aug 18.
RegionBasisPriceHead
Iowa-MinnesotaDressed Delivered363.502,377
Iowa-MinnesotaLive Delivered230.5826
Iowa-MinnesotaLive FOB227.603,366
KansasDressed Delivered360.00156
KansasLive FOB228.00117
NebraskaDressed Delivered363.6711,426

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 one week ago: Slaughter cows and bulls sold 6.00 to 9.00 lower. Replacement cows sold steady. Feeder cattle sold sharply lower.

Letohatchee Stockyards · Alabama

Compared to one week ago: Slaughter cows 2.00 to 4.00 lower, slaughter bulls mostly steady. Feeder steers, bulls, and heifers 5.00 to 15.00 lower.

Okeechobee Livestock Auction (Tue) · Florida

Compared to last week; Steer calves 10.00 to 12.00 lower. Heifer calves 10.00 to 16.00 lower. A large number of calves ,( steers and heifers) , with QBN qualities that made them value added. Demand was moderate to good. Slaughter cows; Breakers and Boners 2.00 to 5.00 lower, Lean s 8.00 higher.

McAlester Union Stockyards · Oklahoma

Compared to last sale (8-04-26): Feeder cattle were all too lightly tested last sale to develop any market trend. A few yearlings are beginning to come off grass. Quality this week was mostly average to attractive.

Miles City Livestock Commission · Montana

Compared to a week ago: Slaughter Cows and Slaughter Bulls steady. Replacement Cattle mostly steady. All Feeder Classes and Calf Classes sold 4.00 - 6.00 lower.

Southern Livestock · Georgia

Lolli Livestock held a Special Bred Cow/Heifer sale Tuesday with a couple of nice consignments of good quality bred heifers in the 3rd stage selling with good demand also in the offering was a nice consignment of good quality 5-6 yr old cows in the 3rd stage also selling with good demand.

Lolli Brothers Livestock Market · Missouri

Compared to one week ago: Slaughter cattle sold 4.00 to 10.00 lower. Replacement cattle sold firm. Feeder steers sold sharply higher. Feeder heifers and bulls sold unevenly steady. Trade was active with good demand on feeder cattle.

Uniontown Stockyards · Alabama

Compared to one week ago: Slaughter cattle sold sharply lower. Feeder cattle sold sharply lower. Replacement cattle sold mostly steady.

Cattlemen's Livestock Auction Market, Inc · Florida

Cows and bulls

National direct, dressed USDA
ClassPriceDirectionHead
Breaker (75% lean)306.48/cwt$7.43 lower541
Boner (85% lean)328.25/cwt$3.02 higher1,566
Cutter (90% lean)333.46/cwt$10.30 higher2,512
Premium White322.92/cwt$1.15 lower1,896
Bull (92% lean)368.72/cwt$0.56 lower373

What published

See every report →
97 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.