Cull cows & bulls

National daily direct cow and bull trade · USDA AMS · Tue, Nov 3
Cutter 90% dressed
$252.65
+1.88+0.8%
USDA · National · DailyNov 3
Boner 85% dressed
$248.01
+1.80+0.7%
USDA · National · DailyNov 3
Cow cutout
$296.93
−0.67-0.2%
USDA · Daily · dressedNov 3
Receipts vs year ago
7,607
−675-8.2%
USDA · National · DailyNov 3

Cow and bull price against the cutout

PublishedWeekly · through Nov 2
All dressed weight, $/cwt, averaged to the week. How close the cow price runs to the beef it becomes: class prices are weighted by head; the cutout is a plain weekly mean because USDA publishes it with no volume attached.
Breaker 75%Boner 85%Cutter 90%Premium WhiteBull 92%Cow cutout
200250300350400NovJanMarMayJulSepNov$303.76$297.27$262.16$251.67$247.09$243.11
A line breaks where a class went unreported that week rather than bridging the gap. A lower lean number is a fatter cow.

Cow and bull prices

PublishedNov 3
$/cwt · dressed leads, live beside it · head reported.
ClassDressedΔ dayHeadLiveHead
Breaker 75%239.17−7.89653——
Boner 85%248.01+1.801,790——
Cutter 90%252.65+1.883,789106.25127
Premium White258.01−7.25801——
Bull 92%303.38−0.79441170.336
Average cow sold, all classes Derived$253.93 7,474 hd dressed
By region, dressed · Nov 3 · $/cwt with head. USDA's own areas, not the fed cattle regions.
ClassEasternNorthwestSouthwest
Breaker 75%238.80 5246.89 239235.35 370
Boner 85%246.98 359251.04 270249.72 775
Cutter 90%256.58 709259.50 565260.00 888
Premium White257.05 77250.71 252265.61 415
Bull 92%298.04 73305.79 83306.01 268
Dressed is the market — 8.7M head trade dressed against 387,000 live, and the two are never averaged together. Dressed combines FOB and delivered, which USDA reports as two halves of the same market. A thin live quote can move on a handful of cows. Change is against Nov 2. A dash in the regional grid means USDA published nothing for that class and region that day.

Cow cutout

PublishedNov 3
Cutout value · $/cwt dressed
$296.93
−0.67 on the day
Gross spread Derived
+$43.00
cutout − average cow sold
Cow cutout, daily
275300325350375SepOctNov$296.93
Loads traded, 40,000-lb equivalents.
All loads50.7
Boner19.2
Cutter5.2
Lean trim12.0

For most cow-calf operations the cows and bulls that leave the herd each year are a real share of the money that comes in, and USDA reports their market every day. Today the average cow sold dressed brought $253.93/cwt against a cow cutout of $296.93.

The beef that comes off cull cattle — the grinding and processing beef that ends up as hamburger, not the steaks off a fed steer. Both figures in the banner are dressed weight, so they compare directly. The spread is gross, not a packer profit — before kill cost and before the drop credit.

Receipts

PublishedDaily · Nov 3
National, today
7,607
−675 (-8.2%) vs a year ago
Week ago
6,828
HeadYear ago
03k5k8k10k9/219/3010/910/2010/29
Today's receipts by area Derived
Southwest−263 vs a year ago3,60147.3%
Northwest−124 vs a year ago2,17628.6%
Eastern Area−288 vs a year ago1,83024.1%
National7,607100%
Heavier receipts mean herds are culling deeper; lighter means cows are being kept. Read against last year, not last week — a holiday shortens a kill week. Drought is usually why.