The Morning Wire / Wed Oct 14, 2026

The Morning Wire

The trading day in one page — Wed, Oct 14

● Written from USDA reportsEvery figure as filed

← Oct 13Oct 14Oct 15 →

Summary

Wed, Oct 14

Choice cutout closed $1.35 higher at $376.50. 55 barns across 26 states reported 3,752 priced lots.

Feeder steers

National, week of Oct 12 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	543.99/cwt	$10.15 higher	5,423	170
400-499 lb	488.37/cwt	$5.57 higher	18,357	190
500-599 lb	432.29/cwt	$1.93 higher	30,929	190
600-699 lb	385.05/cwt	$4.54 higher	20,559	187
700-799 lb	351.46/cwt	$7.01 higher	9,935	156
800-899 lb	337.17/cwt	$3.11 higher	8,977	120

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, Oct 14, weighted by head. Spread of $94.09 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
Bassett	NE	465.21/cwt	415
Torrington Livestock Commission Company	WY	456.59/cwt	379
Huss Livestock	NE	444.60/cwt	355
Hub City Livestock Auction	SD	443.90/cwt	634
Kist Livestock Auction	ND	438.11/cwt	134
Sterling	CO	436.88/cwt	240
Central Plains Stockyards	IA	431.17/cwt	222
Winter Livestock - Dodge City	KS	427.74/cwt	94
South Central Regional Stockyards	MO	419.70/cwt	134
Windsor Livestock Auction	MO	407.66/cwt	40
Mount Sterling Livestock Auction	KY	405.71/cwt	80
Clovis Livestock Auction	NM	403.32/cwt	431
La Junta	CO	397.03/cwt	214
Russell Springs Livestock Auction	KY	392.48/cwt	48
Springfield Livestock Marketing Center	MO	390.94/cwt	101
Farmington Regional Stockyards	MO	390.74/cwt	29
Campbellsville Livestock Auction	KY	384.58/cwt	50
Albany Livestock Auction	KY	376.14/cwt	35
Green Forest Stockyards	AR	374.45/cwt	28
Roanoke Stockyards	AL	371.12/cwt	47

Boxed beef

PM close · Oct 14 USDA

Choice $376.50, $1.35 higher. Select $358.47, $4.80 higher. The Choice–Select spread stands at $18.03. 107 loads traded.

Fed cattle

Negotiated cash, week to date USDA

9,540 head traded Oct 3–Oct 9.

Region	Basis	Price	Head
Iowa-Minnesota	Dressed Delivered	345.00	173
Iowa-Minnesota	Dressed FOB	343.00	40
Iowa-Minnesota	Live Delivered	219.76	82
Iowa-Minnesota	Live FOB	218.67	4,131
Nebraska	Dressed Delivered	345.00	1,818
Nebraska	Dressed FOB	345.00	121

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: yearling steers 950 to 999 lbs steady to 2.00 higher, 1000 to 1049 lbs 5.00 to 7.00 higher with instances up to 9.00 higher on a narrow comparison. Yearling heifers not well compared this week.
Hub City Livestock Auction · South Dakota

A limited number of comparable offerings from last week, a trend will not be given, for Spring calves. Yearling offerings of steers 900 and 1000 lbs traded 3.00 higher. Demand was good with several buyers and active internet bidding for the consigned offerings.
Bassett · Nebraska

Compared to last sale; Steer calves 300-450 lbs sold steady to 10.00 higher and 450-600 lbs were lower, Feeder steers 600-750 lbs sold higher. Heifer calves 300-500 were higher and 500-600 lbs sold lower. Feeder heifers were lower.
Clovis Livestock Auction · New Mexico

Compared to last week; no test on yearling steers but yearlings heifers traded 6.00 higher with several load lots of 7 weight heifers. Steer and heifer calves traded mostly 3.00 to 9.00 higher.
Torrington Livestock Commission Company · Wyoming

Compared to last week, feeder steers over 600 lbs sold 10.00 lower due to less than average quality. Exception of 3 loads of reputation 800 lbs wt. steers, sold steady. Heifers over 750 lbs sold 5.00 to 10.00 higher.
Winter Livestock - Dodge City · Kansas

Compared to last week, steer calves sold mostly 5.00 to 12.00 higher, and heifers were steady to 5.00 higher. A nice run of yearlings this week with 10 straight loads of steers on offer, and many other smaller consignments of high quality steers and heifers. Demand was good on a heavy supply.
Springfield Livestock Marketing Center · Missouri

Compared to last week. Steers10.00 to 20.00 lower. Heifers 15.00 to 25.00 lower. Quality was plain to average with a moderate trade with heavy rain most of the day.
Southern Oklahoma Livestock Auction · Oklahoma

Trade and demand was good. Feeder steers under 600 sold sharply lower on a light test. Feeder steers over 600 sold sharply higher. Feeder heifers sold mostly sharply higher across all weight classes. This is the first week of the split sales for the season.
La Junta · Colorado

Cows and bulls

National direct, dressed USDA

Class	Price	Direction	Head
Breaker (75% lean)	247.67/cwt	$1.50 higher	364
Boner (85% lean)	259.29/cwt	$3.29 lower	1,720
Cutter (90% lean)	264.59/cwt	$0.46 lower	3,810
Premium White	276.77/cwt	$2.17 higher	1,384
Bull (92% lean)	321.58/cwt	$1.24 lower	384

Reports published

See every report →

99 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.