BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT
The fall cattle market remains exceptionally strong. Dodge City reported feeder steers and heifers $5–$10 higher Wednesday and an outstanding calf offering $10–$20 higher. La Junta continued to put better than $2,000 per head on many calves and stockers, while OKC West moved nearly 7,500 head at stout prices.
But there is another side to the week’s numbers. Live cattle futures closed lower Thursday, most nearby feeder contracts lost ground, boxed beef softened, and estimated cattle slaughter is running well behind both last week and last year.
For cattlemen approaching fall weaning, the takeaway is fairly simple: the cash market is paying exceptionally well today, but there is still plenty of market underneath these cattle to manage.
DODGE CITY: ANOTHER LEG HIGHER
Winter Livestock sold 2,802 head Wednesday, September 23, and its own market commentary was unequivocal: feeder steers and heifers were $5–$10 higher, while calves were $10–$20 higher.
Some representative steer sales:
- 392 lb$512.00/cwt$512.00/cwt$2,005/head
- 502 lb$448.00/cwt$448.00/cwt$2,250/head
- 611 lb$387.00/cwt$387.00/cwt$2,364/head
- 755 lb$345.00/cwt$345.00/cwt$2,605/head
- 912 lb$313.50/cwt$313.50/cwt$2,858/head
That follows Winter’s September 16 sale, when the auction already reported feeder cattle $10–$15 higher.
Those weekly estimates shouldn’t simply be added together—the cattle offered each week aren’t identical—but the direction is hard to miss. Dodge City has reported a strengthening market in consecutive weeks.
Replacement females were valuable, too. Black 3–4-year-old cows, 3–4 months bred, reached $4,700 per head.
LA JUNTA: COLORADO CALVES STILL BRINGING SERIOUS MONEY
A day earlier, Winter Livestock at La Junta moved 1,589 head.
A 340-pound steer calf brought $537.50/cwt, while 455-pound calves brought $469 and 500-pound calves brought $418.
The heavier stockers quickly turned those hundredweight prices into substantial checks:
- 550 lb steers$396/cwt$396/cwt$2,178/head
- 615 lb steers$385/cwt$385/cwt$2,367.75/head
- 760 lb steers$327/cwt$327/cwt$2,485.20/head
- 850 lb steers$336.25/cwt$336.25/cwt$2,858.13/head
Compared with the September 15 La Junta report, the picture is more mixed than Dodge City’s stated advance. A 550-pound steer at $396 this week was nearly identical to a 545-pound steer at $395 the week before, while a 615-pound steer at $385 improved on the previous week’s 610-pound steer at $375.
Different cattle make exact week-to-week comparisons imperfect, but the broader point remains: Colorado cattle are still selling at very strong values as the fall run develops.
OKC WEST BRINGS THE VOLUME
If Dodge City and La Junta tell us what’s happening close to home, OKC West gives us a bigger-volume check.
The El Reno sale reported 7,474 head Wednesday.
Medium and Large No. 1 feeder steers brought:
- 600–700 lb$360.00–$407.50/cwt
- 700–800 lb$332.50–$366.00/cwt
- 800–900 lb$320.00–$336.00/cwt
- 900–1,000 lb$304.00–$324.50/cwt
Farther north, Hub City at Aberdeen, South Dakota, reported 700–800-pound steers at $368–$388, while Torrington, Wyoming, saw 400–500-pound steers at $470–$539.
Different regions, cattle and sale conditions prevent clean apples-to-apples comparisons, but there isn’t much evidence in these auction reports that buyers have lost their appetite for cattle.
THE BOARD WASN’T NEARLY AS CHEERFUL
Thursday’s futures trade provided some contrast.
October live cattle settled at $219.075, down $1.85. December lost $1.25 to $221.10, and February finished $0.775 lower at $222.875.
Feeder cattle were mixed. September gained $1.10 to $337.625, but October fell $1.575 to $331.75 and November dropped $1.425 to $328.075.
Meanwhile, the five-area accumulated weighted average showed live steers at $221.53 and live heifers at $220.
Choice boxed beef finished Thursday at $376.12, down $1.19, while Select slipped 24 cents to $352.10.
None of that erases what is happening in the sale barn. It does show that the whole cattle complex isn’t marching higher in lockstep.
A SMALLER KILL DESERVES ATTENTION
Thursday’s estimated cattle slaughter was only 90,000 head, compared with 107,000 a week earlier and 115,498 a year earlier.
Week-to-date slaughter stood at:
- 2026
- 389,000
- Last week
- 420,000
- Year ago
- 466,607
That puts this week’s estimated slaughter through Thursday roughly 16.6% below last year’s comparable figure.
One partial week doesn’t establish a lasting trend, but a reduction that large deserves watching—particularly when the cash cattle market remains this strong.
FEED MARKETS EASE
Feed markets offered cattle feeders a little relief Thursday.
December corn settled at $5.275/bu, down 1½ cents. November soybeans slipped half a cent to $13.175, while December Kansas City wheat lost 4¾ cents to finish at $7.67.
Those aren’t dramatic moves, but lower grain prices are constructive when replacement cattle themselves require this much capital.
SO WHAT?
There are plenty of ways to complicate this market, but the view from cattle country is straightforward.
Cattle are worth a lot of money right now.
A 500-pound steer at La Junta grossed $2,090. A 502-pound steer at Dodge City brought roughly $2,250. An 850-pound La Junta steer grossed more than $2,850. Even at these historically high prices, buyers continue competing for cattle.
For the cow-calf producer approaching weaning, that changes the nature of the decision.
Holding cattle for additional weight may still pay. Backgrounding may still pencil. There may be tax, feed, pasture or marketing reasons to wait. But every animal being held also represents considerably more dollars at risk than it did in an ordinary market.
The futures board slipping for a day doesn’t call the top. Neither does softer boxed beef or a reduced weekly slaughter estimate. What those numbers do is remind us that high prices and low risk are not the same thing.
There is another question worth considering once those cattle checks arrive: what do you do with them?
Strong markets have a way of turning temporary income into permanent expenses. A new pickup, another piece of machinery or higher overhead is easy to justify when $2,000 calves are coming across the scale. Debt reduction, cash reserves, water, fence, grazing improvements and other investments that lower the operation’s long-term cost structure aren’t nearly as exciting.
Nobody knows how long this cattle market lasts.
That’s precisely why the decisions made while it’s good may matter long after it isn’t.
Dey Money
Cattle get worked, cowboys get paid.