Cattle prices remain high
Fed cattle prices regained their losses from the previous week with average prices up $1.50-$2 per hundredweight.
Canfax said one graded carcass sale of $171.20 on heifers surpassed the last record of $170 set in March 1993.
Live steer and heifer sales saw prices of $100 per cwt.
Local packers were active bidders on a smaller volume offered.
Most of the cattle offered for sale had been on feed only about 90 days. Carcass weights remained heavy because yearlings came off grass heavier and have done well in feedlots this fall.
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Alberta’s average steer weight crept up to 825 pounds last week, 26 lb. heavier than the same week last year.
Prices Dec. 2 were steers $99.25-$100 per cwt., flat rail $166.65-$168.15 and heifers $99.75 and flat $168.85.
Canfax said packers continued to keep kill numbers down to reduce beef supply. Alberta’s kill of 37,000 head two weeks ago was the smallest since the Easter-shortened holiday week.
The wholesale beef price is
rising. Montreal was up $3 in a range of $164-$166. The Calgary wholesale market is up $3 this week in a range of $164-$174 with extreme tops to $180.
Lower boxed beef prices in the United States might make if difficult to sustain higher Canadian wholesale prices.
But Canfax said there is a tight supply of market-ready cattle. Animals that should have sold in January have already been pulled forward to take advantage of the strong market.
This will keep producers in the driver’s seat in the short term.
Orderly selling is important if kills are reduced.
Cow prices were stronger as tight supplies kept packer buyers on the hunt. By week’s end, the low for D1,2 cows was $55 at some sales. Most of these grain-fed types topped around $60 with sales to $64.25.
Supplies should tighten through to the New Year and prices should strengthen.
Feeder cattle traded $2-$5 per cwt. higher on strong demand.
The strong fed cattle market is creating optimism at auction barns. Canfax said the market should stay strong heading into Christmas. Volumes will continue their seasonal decline. Good weather, strong fed prices and low feed costs are all supporting factors.
Stock cow trade: Bred cows ranged from $700-$1,660. Most good quality cows traded from $1,200-$1,600. Medium types were mostly from $900-$1,200. Plain types were from $700-$900.
Bred heifers were from $700-$1,510, with top quality types mostly from $1,100-$1,500. Medium quality ranged from $800-$1,200. Plain heifers from $700-900. Cow-calf pairs ranged from $700-$1,340 on a fairly light test.
Hog kill drops in U.S.
American hog slaughter was below 1.8 million head during the U.S. Thanksgiving week, despite a large Saturday kill. Although wholesale pork prices decreased to encourage pork sales, initially packers last week were still willing to pay higher prices for hogs.
Iowa-southern Minnesota hog prices (plant top, 51-52 percent lean, live equivalent) rose to $43 (U.S.) per cwt. early in the week but then fell about $1 a day as more hogs came to market and packers tried to maintain their profit margins.
On Dec. 3, the Iowa-southern Minnesota price range was $31-$40.25 per cwt. with a mean of $38.16.
With the holiday over, retailers should be back buying pork.
Hog slaughter has recently started to decline by three to four percent as expected in the fourth quarter, but market weights are still above last year’s level.
Average Manitoba Index 100 hog prices, including premiums, increased to an estimated $142 per 100 kilograms, said Manitoba Agriculture.
