The Morning Wire / Mon Oct 26, 2026

The Morning Wire

The trading day in one page — Mon, Oct 26

● Written from USDA reportsEvery figure as filed

← Oct 24Oct 26Oct 27 →

Summary

Mon, Oct 26

Choice cutout closed $3.65 higher at $369.44. 57 barns across 20 states reported 4,517 priced lots.

Feeder steers

National, week of Oct 26 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	538.32/cwt	$6.24 lower	4,944	171
400-499 lb	489.99/cwt	$1.53 higher	17,603	187
500-599 lb	435.85/cwt	$3.20 lower	34,086	189
600-699 lb	390.54/cwt	$1.39 lower	22,135	186
700-799 lb	354.36/cwt	$3.76 higher	10,035	167
800-899 lb	342.66/cwt	$2.47 higher	9,879	122

Barn by barn, 500–599 lb steers

Same day, same class USDA

Every barn that sold at least 20 head of this class on Mon, Oct 26, weighted by head. Spread of $73.48 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
Winter - La Junta	CO	444.89/cwt	749
Russell Livestock Auction - Iowa	IA	443.36/cwt	314
Sioux Falls Regional Livestock	SD	441.04/cwt	162
Billings Livestock Commission	MT	431.25/cwt	56
Callaway Livestock Center	MO	416.73/cwt	150
Oklahoma National Stockyards Market	OK	415.47/cwt	614
Harned Livestock Auction	KY	413.22/cwt	56
Tulsa Stockyards Inc.	OK	411.43/cwt	253
Tina Livestock	MO	407.54/cwt	56
Paris Livestock Auction	KY	406.11/cwt	43
Unionville Livestock Auction - Unionville, TN	TN	403.56/cwt	23
Farmers Livestock Exchange, Inc.	VA	402.91/cwt	119
Joplin Regional Stockyards	MO	402.25/cwt	718
Lynchburg Livestock Market, Inc.	VA	392.63/cwt	97
Lexington Livestock Auction - Kentucky	KY	388.88/cwt	46
Cattlemans Livestock Auction - West Point, MS	MS	385.83/cwt	32
Arcadia Stockyard (Mon)	FL	379.64/cwt	44
Meridian Livestock Auction	MS	372.73/cwt	98
Carrollton	GA	372.27/cwt	23
Roswell Livestock Auction	NM	371.41/cwt	203

Boxed beef

PM close · Oct 26 USDA

Choice $369.44, $3.65 higher. Select $357.56, $4.87 higher. The Choice–Select spread stands at $11.88. 89 loads traded.

Fed cattle

Negotiated cash, week to date USDA

391 head traded Oct 17–Oct 23.

Region	Basis	Price	Head
Iowa-Minnesota	Dressed Delivered	354.50	152
Iowa-Minnesota	Live FOB	225.66	239

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.

CLOSE Compared to last week feeder steers under 600 lbs. sold steady to 6.00 lower. Steers weighing over 600 lbs. sold 3.00-14.00 higher with the exception of light eight weight steers which sold 20.00 higher. Feeder heifers sold from 2.00-16.00 higher. Supply was heavy with very good demand.
Joplin Regional Stockyards · Missouri

Compared to last week: Feeder steers 5.00-15.00 higher, 600-700 lbs 20.00-30.00 higher. Feeder heifers 2.00-10.00 higher. Steer and heifer calves 15.00-30.00 higher. Demand very good for all classes. Quality improved from last week. Again, little to no discounts for un-weaned calves;
Oklahoma National Stockyards Market · Oklahoma

Compared to last week: Yearling feeder steers steady to firm, yearling feeder heifers steady to 3.00 higher, instances of 8.00 to 10.00 higher on lighter fleshed heifers. This was the first good test for steer and heifer calves, no good comparisons available.
Sioux Falls Regional Livestock · South Dakota

Trade activity and demand was very good. Feeder steers sold 6.00 to 9.00 higher with most selling for sharply higher across all weight classes. Feeder heifers sold sharply higher across all weight classes. The next feeder calf special sale will be next Monday November 2, 2026.
Winter - La Junta · Colorado

Compared to last sale; Steer calves 300-500 lbs sold 12.00-25.00 higher and 500-600 lbs were 2.00-10.00 lower. Feeder steers 600-700 lbs sold 12.00-17.00 higher. Heifer calves 350-450 lbs were higher with 450-500 lbs being 8.00-10.00 lower and 500-600 lbs selling steady.
Roswell Livestock Auction · New Mexico

Compared to last week: All feeder cattle were too lightly tested to develop an accurate market trend, however higher undertones were noticed on all offerings. Demand for feeder cattle was mostly moderate to good for light offerings. Quality this week was mostly plain to average.
Billings Livestock Commission · Montana

Compared to the auction two weeks ago steers under 550 lbs. and steers over 650 lbs. sold sharply higher, while steers between 550 and 650 lbs. sold 2.00 to 5.00 lower. Heifers sold mostly 4.00 to sharply higher. There were just a handful of load lots in the offering today.
Russell Livestock Auction - Iowa · Iowa

Compared to last week's sale, Slaughter Steers were $6.00-$8.00 higher and Slaughter Dairy Cows were $3.00-$5.00 higher. Feeder Dairy Bull Calves were $60.00-$80.00 higher while Beef Cross Bull Calves traded $40.00-$60.00 lower.
New Holland Sale Stables · Pennsylvania

Cows and bulls

National direct, dressed USDA

Class	Price	Direction	Head
Breaker (75% lean)	243.48/cwt	$2.44 lower	628
Boner (85% lean)	250.13/cwt	$1.17 lower	1,980
Cutter (90% lean)	253.64/cwt	$1.94 lower	4,027
Premium White	261.10/cwt	$3.64 lower	1,492
Bull (92% lean)	315.79/cwt	$2.96 lower	474

Reports published

See every report →

146 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.