The Morning Wire / Wed Oct 14, 2026

The Morning Wire

The trading day in one page — Wed, Oct 14
● Written from USDA reportsEvery figure as filed

The market in a line

Wed, Oct 14
Choice cutout closed $1.35 higher at $376.50. 55 barns across 26 states reported 3,752 priced lots.

Feeder steers

National, week of Oct 12 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 lb543.99/cwt$10.15 higher5,423170
400-499 lb488.37/cwt$5.57 higher18,357190
500-599 lb432.29/cwt$1.93 higher30,929190
600-699 lb385.05/cwt$4.54 higher20,559187
700-799 lb351.46/cwt$7.01 higher9,935156
800-899 lb337.17/cwt$3.11 higher8,977120

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, Oct 14, weighted by head. Spread of $94.09 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
BassettNE465.21/cwt415
Torrington Livestock Commission CompanyWY456.59/cwt379
Huss LivestockNE444.60/cwt355
Hub City Livestock AuctionSD443.90/cwt634
Kist Livestock AuctionND438.11/cwt134
SterlingCO436.88/cwt240
Central Plains StockyardsIA431.17/cwt222
Winter Livestock - Dodge CityKS427.74/cwt94
South Central Regional StockyardsMO419.70/cwt134
Windsor Livestock AuctionMO407.66/cwt40
Mount Sterling Livestock AuctionKY405.71/cwt80
Clovis Livestock AuctionNM403.32/cwt431
La JuntaCO397.03/cwt214
Russell Springs Livestock AuctionKY392.48/cwt48
Springfield Livestock Marketing CenterMO390.94/cwt101
Farmington Regional StockyardsMO390.74/cwt29
Campbellsville Livestock AuctionKY384.58/cwt50
Albany Livestock AuctionKY376.14/cwt35
Green Forest StockyardsAR374.45/cwt28
Roanoke StockyardsAL371.12/cwt47

Boxed beef

PM close · Oct 14 USDA
Choice $376.50, $1.35 higher. Select $358.47, $4.80 higher. The Choice–Select spread stands at $18.03. 107 loads traded.

Fed cattle

Negotiated cash, week to date USDA
9,540 head traded Oct 3–Oct 9.
RegionBasisPriceHead
Iowa-MinnesotaDressed Delivered345.00173
Iowa-MinnesotaDressed FOB343.0040
Iowa-MinnesotaLive Delivered219.7682
Iowa-MinnesotaLive FOB218.674,131
NebraskaDressed Delivered345.001,818
NebraskaDressed FOB345.00121

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.

A limited number of comparable offerings from last week, a trend will not be given, for Spring calves. Yearling offerings of steers 900 and 1000 lbs traded 3.00 higher. Demand was good with several buyers and active internet bidding for the consigned offerings.

Bassett · Nebraska

Compared to last sale; Steer calves 300-450 lbs sold steady to 10.00 higher and 450-600 lbs were lower, Feeder steers 600-750 lbs sold higher. Heifer calves 300-500 were higher and 500-600 lbs sold lower. Feeder heifers were lower.

Clovis Livestock Auction · New Mexico

Compared to last week, steer calves sold mostly 5.00 to 12.00 higher, and heifers were steady to 5.00 higher. A nice run of yearlings this week with 10 straight loads of steers on offer, and many other smaller consignments of high quality steers and heifers. Demand was good on a heavy supply.

Springfield Livestock Marketing Center · Missouri

Compared to last week. Steers10.00 to 20.00 lower. Heifers 15.00 to 25.00 lower. Quality was plain to average with a moderate trade with heavy rain most of the day.

Southern Oklahoma Livestock Auction · Oklahoma

Compared to last week (10-07-26): Feeder cattle were all too lightly tested to develop any market trend. Todays sale mostly featured bred cows, weigh cows and bulls. A few tested open heifers were seen off bred heifer offerings. Demand was mostly moderate for limited offerings.

Public Auction Yards · Montana

Compared to last week, feeder steers over 600 lbs sold 10.00 lower due to less than average quality. Exception of 3 loads of reputation 800 lbs wt. steers, sold steady. Heifers over 750 lbs sold 5.00 to 10.00 higher.

Winter Livestock - Dodge City · Kansas

Compared to one week ago: Slaughter cows and bulls 1.00 to 3.00 lower. Feeder steers, bulls, and heifers steady to 5.00 lower.

Arcadia Stockyard (Wed) · Florida

*Farm Equipment Consignment Sale this Saturday, 10/17/26* Average attendance today, similar head run to last reported in Cattle, increase in offering of Sheep; Hair Lambs, up to $320 per cwt; Wooled Lambs, up to $335 per cwt. Feeders too few to test but demand trending slightly higher.

Buckhannon Stockyards · West Virginia

Cows and bulls

National direct, dressed USDA
ClassPriceDirectionHead
Breaker (75% lean)247.67/cwt$1.50 higher364
Boner (85% lean)259.29/cwt$3.29 lower1,720
Cutter (90% lean)264.59/cwt$0.46 lower3,810
Premium White276.77/cwt$2.17 higher1,384
Bull (92% lean)321.58/cwt$1.24 lower384

What published

See every report →
99 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.