This cattle market information is selected from the weekly report from Canfax, a division of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. More market information, analysis and statistics are available by becoming a Canfax subscriber by calling 403-275-5110 or at www.canfax.ca.
Fed trade holds steady
Alberta direct cattle sales saw active cash trade last week with dressed prices steady to $1 per hundredweight lower than the previous week in a tight $263-$265 per cwt. delivered trade range. Weighted average steer prices closed last week mostly steady with the previous week at $157.61 per cwt. Cattle were being scheduled for delivery in two to three weeks.
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Western Canadian fed slaughter for the week ending Sept. 11 was fully steady with the previous week at 43,199 head. Alberta packers made up for the Labour Day Monday holiday with a Saturday harvest, but total Canadian fed slaughter was down six percent from the previous week with 28 percent fewer fed cattle slaughtered in the East.
Canadian steer carcass weights for the week of Sept. 11 were 13 pounds larger than the previous week at 932 lb. and nine lb. heavier than year ago.
Canadian fed cattle/cow exports to the United States for the week ending Sept 4 were nine percent lower than the previous week at 8,788 head but were six percent larger than the same week last year. Year-to-date exports were down 15 percent, totalling 281,108 head.
Ontario saw active cash trade last week in a $270-$272 per cwt. range.
Alberta cumulative year-to-date fed cattle cash marketings are larger than a year ago, but weekly cash marketings have been smaller for three of the past four weeks. This implies feedlots are generally current. However, carcass weights tell a different story, with larger fed steer weights in both east and west.
Over the past five years, steer carcass weights have peaked during the first week of November at an average of 938 lb. Canadian steers for the week ending Sept. 11 averaged 932 lb.
In the U.S., light fed trade was reported in the south last week with prices steady to US$1 per cwt. lower than the previous week at $123-$124 per cwt. Northern live trade from $123-$125 per cwt. was steady to $2 per cwt. lower.
Last week’s total U.S. cattle slaughter was estimated two percent larger than a year ago at 660,000 head, despite a lost kill day after the fire at the JBS plant in Grand Island, Neb. Stocker and feeder cattle traded steady to around $3 per cwt. lower last week on varied quality and lot sizes.
Cow price strengthens
The non-fed market is coming back to life and made a counter-seasonal move higher last week. Over the past two weeks D2 cow prices strengthened by about $4 per cwt., averaging over $80. Last week, D2s averaged $80.30 and D3s averaged $71 per cwt. On a monthly basis, there have only been two times in the past 20 years that butcher cow prices strengthened from August to September, and that was in 2003 and 2004.
Non-fed numbers are down across the Prairies. For the week ending Sept. 11, western Canadian cow slaughter totalled 5,297 head, the fifth smallest weekly slaughter seen this year.
Big feeder auction numbers
Auction volumes jumped dramatically last week as a few commercial auction facilities highlighted their annual forward delivery calf sales. Last week roughly 55,000 head from British Columbia to Manitoba traded for October to December delivery. Compared to the same sales one year ago, calf prices on average are $2-$5 per cwt. higher.
For October-November delivery, 500-599 lb. steer calves averaged in the $225-$227 per cwt. area and 600-699 lb. steers averaged $212-$214 per cwt.
The surprise on forward calf sales was the strength on heifer calves. Last week 500-599 lb. heifer calves averaged in the $196-$203 per cwt. area for October-November delivery. Numerous heifer lots were sold with no replacements kept back.
Yearling supplies are seasonally declining, but demand continues to be strong. Prices have been trading at or close to annual highs. On a cash-to-cash basis, Alberta feeder prices are trading at a $6 per cwt. premium to the U.S. market compared to a $9 per cwt. premium last year.
U.S. cut-out price drops
In U.S. beef trade, cutouts went seasonally lower. Choice dropped by US$14.58 per cwt. last week to average $318 per cwt., and Select dropped by more than $16 per cwt. to average $280.27.
