The Morning Wire / Thu Oct 22, 2026

The Morning Wire

The trading day in one page — Thu, Oct 22

● Written from USDA reportsEvery figure as filed

← Oct 21Oct 22Oct 23 →

The market in a line

Thu, Oct 22

Choice cutout closed $3.12 lower at $369.47. 36 barns across 18 states reported 2,274 priced lots.

Feeder steers

National, week of Oct 19 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.

Weight	Price	vs prior week	Head	Barns
300-399 lb	544.49/cwt	$0.50 higher	5,174	160
400-499 lb	488.60/cwt	$0.23 higher	17,561	179
500-599 lb	439.27/cwt	$6.98 higher	33,329	183
600-699 lb	392.08/cwt	$7.03 higher	21,745	185
700-799 lb	350.70/cwt	$0.76 lower	9,212	154
800-899 lb	340.23/cwt	$3.06 higher	8,837	108

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, Oct 22, weighted by head. Spread of $74.65 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.

Barn	State	Average	Head
Mobridge Livestock Exchange	SD	470.74/cwt	2,567
Valentine	NE	467.73/cwt	1,186
Ogallala	NE	462.98/cwt	656
Winter Livestock - Pratt	KS	458.83/cwt	430
Clarinda Livestock Auction	IA	457.32/cwt	80
Stockmen's Livestock Exchange	ND	446.69/cwt	1,084
Cedar Livestock Auction	UT	443.23/cwt	33
Mitchell Livestock Auction	SD	442.56/cwt	469
Farmers and Ranchers Livestock Commission - Kansas	KS	436.71/cwt	199
Billings Livestock Commission	MT	435.92/cwt	698
Apache Livestock Auction	OK	425.82/cwt	169
Napoleon Livestock Auction	ND	423.24/cwt	78
Dalhart Livestock Auction	TX	413.50/cwt	76
Paris Livestock Auction	KY	411.26/cwt	238
Wheeler Livestock Auction	MO	411.01/cwt	79
Rockingham Livestock Sales, Inc.	VA	402.74/cwt	167
Woodward Livestock Inc	OK	402.34/cwt	191
Stanford Livestock Auction	KY	397.96/cwt	87
Mo-Kan Livestock Market	MO	397.84/cwt	75
Glasgow Livestock Auction	KY	396.09/cwt	22

Boxed beef

PM close · Oct 22 USDA

Choice $369.47, $3.12 lower. Select $350.41, $4.93 lower. The Choice–Select spread stands at $19.06. 123 loads traded.

Fed cattle

Negotiated cash, week to date USDA

24,753 head traded Oct 10–Oct 16.

Region	Basis	Price	Head
Iowa-Minnesota	Dressed Delivered	353.40	3,231
Iowa-Minnesota	Dressed FOB	350.84	679
Iowa-Minnesota	Live Delivered	225.48	73
Iowa-Minnesota	Live FOB	223.03	5,858
Nebraska	Dressed Delivered	351.23	9,484
Nebraska	Dressed FOB	354.00	639

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, steers were 4.00 - 20.00 higher and heifers under 550 lbs were 2.00 - 5.00 lower and over 550 was 8.00 - 12.00 higher. Nice selection of calves and yearlings offered today. Demand was good to moderate with buyers being selective on shots and conditioning.
Ogallala · Nebraska

Compared to last week. feeder steers 800 lb to 925 lb sold 3.00 to 4.00 higher. Steers 550 lb to 800 lb sold 20.00 to 25.00 higher. No recent comparison on steers under 550 lb, however a definte higher trend was noted especially on fancy weaned and vaccinated steer calves.
Winter Livestock - Pratt · Kansas

Compared to last sale (10-15-26): Yearling steers were too lightly tested to develop any market trend. Yearling heifers were too lightly tested to develop an accurate market trend, however higher undertones were noticed.
Billings Livestock Commission · Montana

Compared to last week: Feeder steers 10.00 to 20.00 higher. Feeder heifers steady to 5.00 higher. Steer calves easily 10.00 to 20.00 higher. Heifer calves 5.00 to 15.00 higher. All on better quality versus last week. Demand was moderate. Quality average.
Woodward Livestock Inc · Oklahoma

Compared to last week: Sale results were largely mixed. Sentiment toward steer calves was largely to the lower side on few comparable sales. Healthy, weaned, thin fleshed calves exhibited the highest demand over fresh cattle. Feeder steers from 600-800 lbs. brought 6.00-7.00 higher.
Dalhart Livestock Auction · Texas

Trade activity and demand was moderate. Boner slaughter cows of average dressing sold 1.00 lower and lean cows sold 6.00 lower. Slaughter bulls of average dressing sold 1.00 lower. Stock cows sold steady to higher and bred cows sold steady on a light test.
La Junta · Colorado

Compared to last week feeder steers sold steady. Feeder heifers sold steady to 4.00 lower. Good demand for feeder classes. Slaughter classes sold steady with good demand.
Guthrie Livestock Auction · Kentucky

Compared to last week, steers sold steady to 5.00 higher and heifers sold with a higher undertone based on last week's light test. Some reputation consignments of calves and a load of yearling heifers were offered. Demand was good for a moderate supply.
Mo-Kan Livestock Market · Missouri

Cows and bulls

National direct, dressed USDA

Class	Price	Direction	Head
Breaker (75% lean)	249.64/cwt	$2.92 higher	609
Boner (85% lean)	253.47/cwt	$0.39 lower	1,709
Cutter (90% lean)	256.50/cwt	$2.49 lower	4,083
Premium White	268.70/cwt	$2.43 lower	1,017
Bull (92% lean)	318.53/cwt	$3.82 lower	382

What published

See every report →

73 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.