The Morning Wire / Wed Sep 30, 2026

The Morning Wire

The trading day in one page — Wed, Sep 30

● Written from USDA reportsEvery figure as filed

← Sep 29Sep 30Oct 1 →

Summary

Wed, Sep 30

Choice cutout held near $382.79. 51 barns across 25 states reported 3,466 priced lots.

Feeder steers

National, week of Sep 28 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	513.81/cwt	$0.21 lower	3,901	167
400-499 lb	461.86/cwt	$0.99 higher	10,799	180
500-599 lb	414.66/cwt	$9.25 higher	17,632	184
600-699 lb	366.38/cwt	$2.76 higher	12,358	176
700-799 lb	343.87/cwt	$2.87 lower	8,586	165
800-899 lb	332.93/cwt	$2.10 lower	10,110	116

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 30, weighted by head. Spread of $100.16 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	467.51/cwt	533
Hub City Livestock Auction	SD	460.00/cwt	91
Public Auction Yards	MT	435.17/cwt	90
South Central Regional Stockyards	MO	427.27/cwt	97
Windsor Livestock Auction	MO	420.72/cwt	32
'R' Livestock Connection	UT	413.44/cwt	176
Winter Livestock - Dodge City	KS	405.84/cwt	98
Farmington Regional Stockyards	MO	405.13/cwt	94
Springfield Livestock Marketing Center	MO	400.69/cwt	125
Owenton Livestock Auction	KY	399.19/cwt	34
Russell Springs Livestock Auction	KY	394.28/cwt	50
Albany Livestock Auction	KY	387.70/cwt	37
Green Forest Stockyards	AR	387.20/cwt	50
Arcadia Stockyard (Wed)	FL	382.95/cwt	56
Campbellsville Livestock Auction	KY	380.54/cwt	25
Mount Sterling Livestock Auction	KY	378.35/cwt	55
Clovis Livestock Auction	NM	377.89/cwt	112
Preston Farmers Market	WV	376.58/cwt	118
Southern Oklahoma Livestock Auction	OK	367.40/cwt	258
Lafayette Livestock Auction	TN	367.35/cwt	26

Boxed beef

PM close · Sep 30 USDA

Choice $382.79, $0.13 higher. Select $360.59, $3.89 lower. The Choice–Select spread stands at $22.20. 108 loads traded.

Fed cattle

Negotiated cash, week to date USDA

14,056 head traded Sep 24–Sep 30.

Region	Basis	Price	Head
Iowa-Minnesota	Dressed Delivered	349.80	2,451
Iowa-Minnesota	Live Delivered	219.69	55
Iowa-Minnesota	Live FOB	219.94	3,611
Nebraska	Dressed Delivered	346.72	6,697
Nebraska	Live FOB	220.58	1,242

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: best test on steers 850 to 899 and 1100 to 1149 lbs steady to 3.00 higher, 950 to 999 lbs steady to 2.00 lower. Heifers not well compared. Another large offering of yearlings this week with cattle coming both out of yards and off grass.
Hub City Livestock Auction · South Dakota

Compared to last week, steers over 700 lbs sold steady to 5.00 to 10.00 higher. Heifers over 550 lbs sold steady to 5.00 to 10.00 higher. Steers under 700 lbs and heifers under 550 lbs sold weak due to rain. 56 heifers weighing 816 lbs and 50 heifers weighing 924 lbs sold 21.00 higher.
Winter Livestock - Dodge City · Kansas

Compared to last week; no test on yearling steers but yearling heifers traded 2.00 to 3.00 higher. Steer calves traded mostly steady with the exception of fly weight steer calves trading sharply higher than last week. Heifer calves traded mostly steady on comparable trades to last week.
Torrington Livestock Commission Company · Wyoming

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

Compared to two weeks ago, a limited number of comparable offerings of 1,000 to 1,050 lbs steers traded $2.00 to $11.00 higher, while 950 to 1,000 lbs heifers traded $3.00 to $6.00 lower. Demand was good, supported by several buyers and active internet bidding.
Bassett · Nebraska

Compared to last week, steers sold mostly steady to 7.00 lower, and heifers sold unevenly steady from 2.00 higher to 4.00 lower. Some high quality long weaned groups were included in the offering, but were accompanied by many smaller consignments of unweaned or short weaned calves with many bull cal…
Springfield Livestock Marketing Center · Missouri

Compared to last week, slaughter steers were 12.00 higher while Holstein slaughter steers were 3.00 higher. Slaughter heifers were 11.00 higher and Holstein slaughter heifers were 2.00 lower based on a limited comparison.
Shipshewana Livestock Auction · Indiana

Compared to the last sale. Feeder Steers/Bulls steady to 10.00 higher; Feeder Heifers steady to 10.00 higher with instances of 15.00 higher; Slaughter Cows mostly steady to 2.00 lower; Slaughter Bulls steady to 3.00 lower. Offerings also included 1039 head sold on video.
Lafayette Livestock Auction · Tennessee

Cows and bulls

National direct, dressed USDA

Class	Price	Direction	Head
Breaker (75% lean)	260.85/cwt	$17.66 lower	439
Boner (85% lean)	269.18/cwt	$5.89 lower	1,943
Cutter (90% lean)	272.65/cwt	$3.00 lower	3,442
Premium White	294.59/cwt	$1.28 lower	1,847
Bull (92% lean)	323.80/cwt	$3.77 higher	372

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.