The Morning Wire / Fri Oct 30, 2026

The Morning Wire

The trading day in one page — Fri, Oct 30
● Written from USDA reportsEvery figure as filed

The market in a line

Fri, Oct 30
Choice cutout closed $2.62 lower at $364.66. 16 barns across 11 states reported 859 priced lots.

Feeder steers

National, week of Oct 26 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 lb539.69/cwt$4.87 lower4,883165
400-499 lb491.24/cwt$2.78 higher17,421181
500-599 lb436.40/cwt$2.65 lower33,853183
600-699 lb390.80/cwt$1.13 lower22,041180
700-799 lb354.62/cwt$4.02 higher9,979161
800-899 lb342.79/cwt$2.60 higher9,860118

Barn by barn, 500–599 lb steers

Same day, same class USDA
Every barn that sold at least 20 head of this class on Fri, Oct 30, weighted by head. Spread of $103.81 between the top and bottom of 13 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
Ft. Pierre Livestock AuctionSD454.46/cwt2,497
CrawfordNE451.91/cwt671
Herreid Livestock MarketSD443.74/cwt510
LexingtonNE440.97/cwt456
St. Onge LivestockSD437.19/cwt1,162
Public Auction YardsMT429.42/cwt326
Dunlap Livestock AuctionIA426.33/cwt156
BurwellNE424.96/cwt240
BrushCO405.36/cwt93
Siler City Livestock AuctionNC388.23/cwt25
Eastern Missouri Commission CompanyMO386.78/cwt26
Ash Flat Livestock Auction Inc.AR383.96/cwt35
Cattlemen's Livestock Auction - Belen, NMNM350.65/cwt133

Boxed beef

PM close · Oct 30 USDA
Choice $364.66, $2.62 lower. Select $351.98, $0.35 higher. The Choice–Select spread stands at $12.68. 126 loads traded.

Fed cattle

Negotiated cash, week to date USDA
20,615 head traded Oct 24–Oct 30.
RegionBasisPriceHead
Iowa-MinnesotaDressed Delivered354.752,433
Iowa-MinnesotaDressed FOB355.00256
Iowa-MinnesotaLive Delivered224.2542
Iowa-MinnesotaLive FOB223.107,537
NebraskaDressed Delivered350.345,800
NebraskaDressed FOB352.571,130

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: Not enough yearling to make a price comparison, steer calves from 400 lbs to 449 lbs and steer calves from 550 lbs to 649 lbs were 10.00 to 15.00 lower, steer calves from 450 lbs to 549 lbs were 6.00 to 8.00 lower, heifer calves from 400 lbs to 449 lbs were 10.00 to 15.00 lowe…

Ft. Pierre Livestock Auction · South Dakota

Sale of weaned and bawling calves, with a few bulls included. Most hefers and steers had precondition shots. Prices mostly on the lower side compared to two weeks ago. Demand moderate to good.

Crawford · Nebraska

Compared to last week steer calves under 500 lbs were too lightly tested to develop an accurate market trend, however lower undertones were noticed. 500-599 lbs steers sold mostly steady, steer calves over 600 lbs steady to 10.00 lower.

Public Auction Yards · Montana

Compared to last week; slaughter and feeder cows traded mostly steady early in the day and 3.00 lower later in the day. Slaughter bulls traded mostly steady. A large run again this week with dry conditions still surrounding the area. Sale again next Friday.

Torrington Livestock Commission Company · Wyoming

Compared to last week: Steer and heifer calves sold 10.00-15.00 higher. Feeder steers and heifers sold 5.00-7.00 lower. Slaughter cows and bulls sold 3.00-5.00 lower. Trade and demand good.

Cattlemen's Livestock Auction - Belen, NM · New Mexico

Trade activity and demand was good. Starting to see a few more weaned calves. Feeder steers traded mostly 6.00 to 15.00 higher from the previous week, with some sharply higher. This was largely due to some larger lots of high quality pre-conditioned calves.

Brush · Colorado

Compared to last week: Feeder steers and heifers sold 8.00 to 12.00 lower. Yearling steers sold 5.00 to 6.00 lower. Live and feeder cattle futures traded sharply downward today. Slaughter cows sold 4.00 to 6.00 lower. No trend on slaughter bulls due to low receipts.

Richmond Livestock Auction · Kentucky

Slaughter cattle were steady this week compared to last week . Feeder cattle were steady to 2.00 higher this week compared to last week . Demand was moderate ; market activity and buyer interest were moderate . Offerings moderate with quality average . 2 head of hogs

Siler City Livestock Auction · North Carolina

Cows and bulls

National direct, dressed USDA
ClassPriceDirectionHead
Breaker (75% lean)247.82/cwt$4.04 lower707
Boner (85% lean)246.30/cwt$0.59 lower1,856
Cutter (90% lean)252.74/cwt$1.95 higher3,607
Premium White260.74/cwt$2.10 lower1,166
Bull (92% lean)307.56/cwt$2.65 higher472

What published

See every report →
47 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.