Summer sales doldrums
SASKATOON (Staff) – Local plants set the pace in fed cattle trade this week. Overall, steer prices were up by 50 cents per hundredweight, while heifers were up by 50 cents to $1 per cwt, Canfax reported.
Steers on July 20 traded at between $78.75-$80.50, with top sales to $81, while heifers were priced between $78.25-$80. Heifers sales topped at $81.75.
Feedlots declined to sell a few cattle on offer, but Canfax reported they were generally willing sellers. Some 1,400-lb. plus cattle were showing up, to an unenthusiastic response from packers.
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On the demand side, Canfax said beef trade is suffering from its seasonal summer decline. Reasons include the heat wave in the U.S. Midwest while consumers in Ontario and Quebec have headed for their cottages. The Calgary wholesale price on A1 and A2 carcasses dropped by $1 per cwt. to $133-$137.
Trade in slaughter cows was also off last week, spurred by lower boneless beef prices. D1 and D2 cows were bid between $45-$60. Railgrade bids were between $98-$103 per cwt.
Volumes and trade in feeder cattle remain light, typical of the season. Bigger numbers of grass cattle are expected to start moving soon.
U.S. inventory report
The United States department of agriculture released its mid-year cattle inventory report last week. It showed a three percent increase in the number of beef cows and heifers calved from July of 1994, an increase of 1.2 million head.
The U.S. calf crop (including dairy calves) is 750,000 head bigger this year than last.
