The Morning Wire / Sat Aug 29, 2026

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The Morning Wire

The trading day in one page — Sat, Aug 29
● Written from USDA reportsEvery figure as filed
← Aug 28Aug 29Aug 31 →

The market in a line

Sat, Aug 29
Choice cutout closed $5.13 lower at $376.23. 8 barns across 5 states reported 530 priced lots.

Feeder steers

National, week of Aug 24 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 lb479.93/cwt$44.63 lower2,173131
400-499 lb416.28/cwt$26.18 lower4,241154
500-599 lb371.00/cwt$25.78 lower5,891153
600-699 lb349.11/cwt$12.09 lower6,188155
700-799 lb334.62/cwt$3.57 lower5,752130
800-899 lb324.00/cwt$4.98 lower8,80594

Barn by barn, 500–599 lb steers

Same day, same class USDA
Every barn that sold at least 20 head of this class on Sat, Aug 29, weighted by head. Spread of $86.21 between the top and bottom of 3 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
EricsonNE416.06/cwt62
Jackson County Regional Livestock MarketWV343.66/cwt36
Carthage Livestock AuctionTN329.86/cwt23

Boxed beef

PM close · Aug 28 USDA
Choice $376.23, $5.13 lower. Select $361.08, $1.89 higher. The Choice–Select spread stands at $15.15. 108 loads traded.

Fed cattle

Negotiated cash, week to date USDA
24,741 head traded Aug 22–Aug 28.
RegionBasisPriceHead
Iowa-MinnesotaDressed Delivered349.841,972
Iowa-MinnesotaDressed FOB341.0080
Iowa-MinnesotaLive Delivered219.68230
Iowa-MinnesotaLive FOB219.264,882
NebraskaDressed Delivered345.139,079
NebraskaDressed FOB345.85480

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 20.00 to 25.00 lower on a light test; Feeder Heifers 18.00 to 25.00 lower with instances of 30.00 lower; Feeder Bulls 8.00 to 20.00 lower with; Slaughter Cows 7.00 to 9.00 lower; Slaughter Bulls lightly tested being 7.00 lower.

Carthage Livestock Auction · Tennessee

Compared to last week: No trends available on feeder steers due to low receipts. Feeder heifers sold 4.00 to 8.00 lower. Slaughter cows sold 2.00 to 4.00 lower. Slaughter bulls sold 4.00 to 8.00 lower

Campbellsville Livestock Auction · Kentucky

No trends established, due to lack of comparable sales. However, lower undertones continued.

Crossville Livestock Auction · Tennessee

Compared to last week, slaughter cows sold mostly steady with no comparisons available for slaughter bulls or feeder classes due to limited comparable receipts, however, a lower undertone was noted for feeder cattle due to the recent continued downturn in the futures market.

Greenville Livestock Auction - Greenville, TN · Tennessee

Cows and bulls

National direct, dressed USDA
ClassPriceDirectionHead
Breaker (75% lean)296.81/cwt$5.54 lower728
Boner (85% lean)309.44/cwt$1.63 lower2,153
Cutter (90% lean)314.56/cwt$1.71 lower3,109
Premium White326.14/cwt$4.02 higher2,223
Bull (92% lean)358.39/cwt$1.62 higher711

What published

See every report →
9 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.