The Morning Wire / Wed Oct 21, 2026

The Morning Wire

The trading day in one page — Wed, Oct 21

● Written from USDA reportsEvery figure as filed

← Oct 20Oct 21Oct 22 →

Summary

Wed, Oct 21

Choice cutout held near $372.59. 56 barns across 26 states reported 3,775 priced lots.

Feeder steers

National, week of Oct 19 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	544.56/cwt	$0.57 higher	5,185	161
400-499 lb	488.46/cwt	$0.09 higher	17,624	180
500-599 lb	439.05/cwt	$6.76 higher	33,564	184
600-699 lb	391.93/cwt	$6.88 higher	21,836	186
700-799 lb	350.60/cwt	$0.86 lower	9,257	155
800-899 lb	340.19/cwt	$3.02 higher	8,842	109

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 21, weighted by head. Spread of $86.54 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	474.12/cwt	866
Ft. Pierre Livestock Auction	SD	470.93/cwt	1,111
Hub City Livestock Auction	SD	454.32/cwt	123
Huss Livestock	NE	452.32/cwt	82
St. Onge Livestock	SD	446.46/cwt	575
Sterling	CO	445.30/cwt	327
Kist Livestock Auction	ND	436.17/cwt	451
Winter Livestock - Dodge City	KS	425.43/cwt	121
'R' Livestock Connection	UT	421.67/cwt	140
Windsor Livestock Auction	MO	411.88/cwt	59
Russell Springs Livestock Auction	KY	409.66/cwt	30
Albany Livestock Auction	KY	399.72/cwt	53
Clovis Livestock Auction	NM	397.06/cwt	583
Southern Oklahoma Livestock Auction	OK	393.83/cwt	237
La Junta	CO	393.00/cwt	372
Public Auction Yards	MT	392.59/cwt	34
Farmington Regional Stockyards	MO	392.45/cwt	62
Mount Sterling Livestock Auction	KY	390.22/cwt	26
Lafayette Livestock Auction	TN	390.02/cwt	50
Springfield Livestock Marketing Center	MO	387.58/cwt	153

Boxed beef

PM close · Oct 21 USDA

Choice $372.59, $0.71 lower. Select $355.34, $6.20 lower. The Choice–Select spread stands at $17.25. 91 loads traded.

Fed cattle

Negotiated cash, week to date USDA

24,753 head traded Oct 10–Oct 16.

Region	Basis	Price	Head
Iowa-Minnesota	Dressed Delivered	353.40	3,231
Iowa-Minnesota	Dressed FOB	350.84	679
Iowa-Minnesota	Live Delivered	225.48	73
Iowa-Minnesota	Live FOB	223.03	5,858
Nebraska	Dressed Delivered	351.23	9,484
Nebraska	Dressed FOB	354.00	639

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 yearling steers 900 to 999 lbs mostly steady. Best test on yearling heifers 900 to 949 lbs 2.00 to 5.00 higher. Calves too lightly tested today for an accurate price trend.
Hub City Livestock Auction · South Dakota

Compared to last sale; Steer calves 300-500 lbs sold 3.00-13.00 higher and 500-600 lbs were 15.00-17.00 lower. Feeder steers 600-700 lbs sold lower with 700-750 lbs being higher. Heifer calves 300-350 and 400-450 lbs sold 5.00-12.00 higher while 450-600 lbs were 10.00-15.00 lower.
Clovis Livestock Auction · New Mexico

Compared to last week; no test on yearling steers and only test on a yearling heifers were on a 900-950 lb heifer traded 7.00 higher. Steer and heifer calves traded 5.00 to 10.00 higher. A nice offering with a few load lots but mainly partial loads and package trade.
Torrington Livestock Commission Company · Wyoming

Compared to last week, steers over 700 lbs sold 20.00 higher and steers under 700 lbs sold 14.00 higher, instances of sharply higher. Heifers under 600 lbs sold 10.00 higher to sharply higher. Heifers over 600 lbs not enough for market test.
Winter Livestock - Dodge City · Kansas

Compared to last week. Steers and Heifers 25.00 to 35.00 higher with cooler weather and rain the past week. Quality was plain to average with very active demand.
Southern Oklahoma Livestock Auction · Oklahoma

Compared to last week's sale, not enough feeder cattle for a true market test. Feeder Cattle defiantly showed a higher undertone with good buyer demand for fresh calves coming off grass.
Public Auction Yards · Montana

Trade activity and demand was moderate. Feeder steers sold mostly lower to sharply lower across all weight classes. Feeder heifers under 550 sold mostly sharply higher. Heifers over 550 sold 2.00 to 4.00 lower with instances of sharply lower.
La Junta · Colorado

Compared to last week feeder steers 550 to 600 lbs. were 1.00 higher and 950 to 1000 lbs were 3.00 higher. Other weights of steers and heifers did not have the numbers for a comparison this week. Sale consisted of around 700 yearlings and the rest of the offering were spring calves.
Kist Livestock Auction · North Dakota

Cows and bulls

National direct, dressed USDA

Class	Price	Direction	Head
Breaker (75% lean)	246.72/cwt	$2.12 higher	674
Boner (85% lean)	253.86/cwt	$2.18 lower	1,736
Cutter (90% lean)	258.99/cwt	$0.29 lower	3,550
Premium White	271.13/cwt	$5.48 lower	1,578
Bull (92% lean)	322.35/cwt	$1.96 higher	427

Reports published

See every report →

101 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.