The Morning Wire / Wed Sep 23, 2026

The Morning Wire

The trading day in one page — Wed, Sep 23

● Written from USDA reportsEvery figure as filed

← Sep 22Sep 23Sep 24 →

Summary

Wed, Sep 23

Choice cutout closed $1.58 lower at $377.31. 56 barns across 26 states reported 3,607 priced lots.

Feeder steers

National, week of Sep 21 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	514.02/cwt	$15.72 higher	3,710	163
400-499 lb	460.87/cwt	$10.00 higher	9,597	174
500-599 lb	405.41/cwt	$2.05 higher	12,027	175
600-699 lb	363.62/cwt	$0.35 higher	10,899	172
700-799 lb	346.74/cwt	$2.57 higher	10,789	159
800-899 lb	335.03/cwt	$0.26 higher	10,844	119

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, Sep 23, weighted by head. Spread of $69.65 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
Torrington Livestock Commission Company	WY	451.78/cwt	553
Huss Livestock	NE	439.81/cwt	120
Winter Livestock - Dodge City	KS	431.02/cwt	314
South Central Regional Stockyards	MO	420.33/cwt	105
Green Forest Stockyards	AR	416.25/cwt	83
Farmington Regional Stockyards	MO	411.73/cwt	42
'R' Livestock Connection	UT	405.21/cwt	44
Central Plains Stockyards	IA	405.17/cwt	47
Clovis Livestock Auction	NM	397.95/cwt	130
Kist Livestock Auction	ND	395.00/cwt	20
Russell Springs Livestock Auction	KY	394.64/cwt	52
Springfield Livestock Marketing Center	MO	393.69/cwt	163
County Line Sale Barn	AR	393.43/cwt	26
Windsor Livestock Auction	MO	393.27/cwt	103
Albany Livestock Auction	KY	392.27/cwt	43
Roanoke Stockyards	AL	390.49/cwt	46
Lucedale Livestock Auction	MS	388.16/cwt	36
La Junta	CO	383.69/cwt	181
North Wilkesboro Livestock Auction	NC	383.35/cwt	26
Southern Oklahoma Livestock Auction	OK	382.13/cwt	220

Boxed beef

PM close · Sep 23 USDA

Choice $377.31, $1.58 lower. Select $352.34, $5.51 lower. The Choice–Select spread stands at $24.97. 98 loads traded.

Fed cattle

Negotiated cash, week to date USDA

24,620 head traded Sep 17–Sep 23.

Region	Basis	Price	Head
Iowa-Minnesota	Dressed Delivered	349.68	2,982
Iowa-Minnesota	Dressed FOB	348.00	76
Iowa-Minnesota	Live Delivered	222.17	329
Iowa-Minnesota	Live FOB	221.54	6,063
Nebraska	Dressed Delivered	350.05	10,399
Nebraska	Dressed FOB	350.00	222

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: Slaughter steers steady to 3.00 lower, heifers 3.00 to 5.00 lower. A large offering of very high grading, eye appealing, long time fed steers and heifers.
Sioux Falls Regional Livestock · South Dakota

Compared to last week; feeder steers and heifers traded 2.00 to 6.00 higher. A large selection of calves also today with several load lots and also a straight load of replacement heifers. Steer calves traded 3.00 to 12.00 higher with instances 20.00 higher on reputation loads of steers.
Torrington Livestock Commission Company · Wyoming

Compared to last week, large loads of steers and heifers under 650 lbs sold 10.00 to 20.00 higher. Heifers 600 lbs to 700 lbs sold 5.00 higher. One load of 690 lbs heifers sold 10.00 higher. Feeder steers not well tested. Slaughter cows sold steady across all classes.
Winter Livestock - Dodge City · Kansas

Compared to two weeks ago, steers 700-1000 lbs sold 5.00 to 15.00 higher and heifers over 700 lbs sold steady to 10.00 higher. Demand was good from the buyers in the crowd with internet activity noticed.
Huss Livestock · Nebraska

Compared to last week. Steers steady to 5.00 lower. Heifers steady to 10.00 higher. Quality was plain to average with a moderate demand.
Southern Oklahoma Livestock Auction · Oklahoma

Compared to last sale; Steer calves 350-450 lbs sold uneven and 450-600 lbs were 10.00-15.00 higher. Heifer calves 400-550 lbs sold higher and 550-600 lbs were 5.00 lower Feeder heifers 600-650 lbs sold 7.00 higher. Trade and demand were moderately higher on lower numbers .
Clovis Livestock Auction · New Mexico

Comparted to last week: Feeder steers sold 15.00-20.00 higher. Feeder heifers sold 5.00-10.00 higher. The offering included several large groups of weaned cattle in the weaned special along with the regular sale.
Green Forest Stockyards · Arkansas

Compared to last weeks lighter test, steers and heifers sold mostly steady. Demand was moderate to good for a moderate supply with a nice offering of yearlings on hand. The board has been volatile lately but saw big gains on Wednesday. Slaughter cows sold 3.00-6.00 lower.
Windsor Livestock Auction · Missouri

Cows and bulls

National direct, dressed USDA

Class	Price	Direction	Head
Breaker (75% lean)	269.26/cwt	$16.78 lower	411
Boner (85% lean)	280.44/cwt	$2.55 lower	1,627
Cutter (90% lean)	284.73/cwt	$0.94 lower	3,036
Premium White	299.52/cwt	$3.17 higher	1,370
Bull (92% lean)	331.33/cwt	$0.90 lower	435

Reports published

See every report →

97 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.