The Morning Wire / Tennessee / Wed Aug 5, 2026

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Tennessee cattle market

The trading day in one page — Wed, Aug 5
● 5 barns reportedEvery figure as filed
← Aug 4Aug 5Aug 6 →

The market in a line

Wed, Aug 5
Choice cutout closed $1.68 lower at $367.97. 5 Tennessee barns reported 288 priced lots.

Feeder steers

Tennessee, week of Aug 3 USDA
Weighted across every reported lot, by weight class. Weekly rather than daily — one day's barns are too thin a base for a state figure. Watch the barn count: a weight class carried by one or two barns is a thin figure, not a market.
WeightPricevs prior weekHeadBarns
300-399 lb489.59/cwt$38.38 higher12813
400-499 lb446.48/cwt$10.15 higher32115
500-599 lb418.58/cwt$25.24 higher67115
600-699 lb388.47/cwt$26.52 higher84415
700-799 lb355.83/cwt$29.18 higher41715
800-899 lb341.21/cwt$19.15 higher18811

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, Aug 5, weighted by head. Spread of $24.32 between the top and bottom of 4 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
McMinnville Livestock AuctionTN420.49/cwt207
Columbia Livestock AuctionTN420.27/cwt33
Savannah Livestock AuctionTN396.92/cwt25
Lafayette Livestock AuctionTN396.17/cwt28

Boxed beef

National · PM close · Aug 5 USDA
Choice $367.97, $1.68 lower. Select $348.06, $1.56 higher. The Choice–Select spread stands at $19.91. 109 loads traded.

Fed cattle

National · Negotiated cash, week to date USDA
30,529 head traded Jul 30–Aug 5.
RegionBasisPriceHead
Iowa-MinnesotaDressed Delivered373.722,639
Iowa-MinnesotaDressed FOB365.0070
Iowa-MinnesotaLive Delivered235.821,542
Iowa-MinnesotaLive FOB234.227,582
KansasDressed Delivered370.0039
KansasLive FOB232.881,441

At the Tennessee barns

USDA market reporters, as filed USDA

Trends could not be established due to a lack of comparable data last week; Feeder Cattle tended to trade with a sharply higher undertone, Slaughter Cattle tended to trade steady. Quality good to fancy, Demand good.

Savannah Livestock Auction · Tennessee

Compared to the last sale, Feeder Steers/Bulls steady to 10.00 higher; Feeder Heifers steady to 10.00 higher; Slaughter Cows mostly steady to 2.00 higher; Slaughter Bulls 3.00 higher. Offerings also included 1915 head sold on video.

Lafayette Livestock Auction · Tennessee

No trends could be established due to lack of comparable data; however all classes of Feeder Cattle traded higher with good quality and strong demand; Slaughter Cows and Bulls not well established.

Columbia Livestock Auction · Tennessee

Compared to last week, slaughter cows sold 1.00 to 4.00 higher with no comparisons available for slaughter bulls or feeder classes due to limited comparable receipts.

Sweetwater Livestock Auction · Tennessee

Cows and bulls

National direct, dressed USDA
ClassPriceDirectionHead
Breaker (75% lean)319.67/cwt$3.57 higher382
Boner (85% lean)334.53/cwt$2.41 lower1,556
Cutter (90% lean)332.70/cwt$5.57 lower2,919
Premium White327.74/cwt$0.50 lower2,087
Bull (92% lean)376.94/cwt$0.98 higher358

What published

See every report →
Every USDA report carried this date is listed in the archive.
Source: USDA AMS. Feeder prices and barn comment are Tennessee only; boxed beef, fed cattle and the cow market are national, because those markets are. 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.