Steady as she goes
SASKATOON – Fed cattle markets in Alberta ended the week at even money compared to the first week of July, but not without a few gyrations.
Canfax reports prices opened the week steady to about 50 cents per hundredweight lower, but by midweek, driven in part by adequate volumes of 15,000 head, prices had fallen a further 50 cents to $1 per cwt.
By July 13 prices had recovered, and weekly averages were steady.
There was some American buying, but interest was limited by a higher Canadian dollar and a lower U.S. cash fat cattle market. Trade on July 13 had steers bid between $78.65-$81.50 per cwt. while heifers were bid between $78.40-$80.50.
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As with fed cattle, cows traded steady this past week. Fewer grain-fed cows are being sold. D1 and D2 cows were bid from $45-$59 per cwt. on the hoof. Railgrade bids ranged from $98-$105 per cwt.
Feeder cattle prices were thinly tested last week, Canfax said, as volumes are down to just a trickle, especially in southern Alberta. A few more calves are coming off grass in northeastern Alberta and northwestern Saskatchewan due to dry conditions.
Pigs in hot water
Canadian hog prices followed their American cousins higher, as hot weather in the U.S. Midwest slowed down deliveries, sending packers searching for supplies.
In Saskatchewan, the Index 100 pooled price was up by $2.20 per hundred kilograms to $162.20; the Manitoba price was up $2.99 per ckg to $167.11 and Alberta’s price was up $5.50 to $164.20 per ckg.
