Daily Cattle Report

Wednesday March 17, 2010

Slaughter Report Last updated March 17, 2010

Feeder Report Last updated March 17, 2010

Alberta Cattle Industry Market Report

Alberta direct cattle sales Tuesday saw no new trade to report. Trade should start to take place today with prices expected to be steady to higher.

Live

Rail

Steers

No Trade

No Trade

Heifers

No Trade

No Trade


In the cow and bull trade in Northern Alberta on Tuesday:

D1, D2 cows

D3 cows

Bulls

47.00-58.000

30.00-45.00

60.00-73.00

US Trade

In the U.S. trade, business isn’t expected until later in the week. Asking prices are $96.00-97.00 in the South and $152.00+ in the North.

US Trade

Choice Steers

No Trade

Choice Heifers

No Trade

Canadian Dollar

The Canadian dollar at 9:10 this morning was trading at 98.93, up 0.35.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange

On the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, in midsession trade, live cattle futures are as follows:

April

June

August

95.90, +0.42

93.90, +0.27

91.50, +0.35

Replacement Trade

Information provided on this report is supplied by various auction markets throughout Alberta. In reference to the following prices, producers are reminded to check with individual markets on current prices and trends. Prices quoted include top quality cattle only.

Feeder and stocker prices in Northern Alberta on Tuesday:

Steers

Heifers

900+

88.00-91.00

82.00-88.00

800-900

92.00-100.00

88.00-91.00

700-800

95.00-106.75

90.00-95.00

600-700

105.00-120.50

93.00-103.00

500-600

115.00-125.00

98.00-111.00

400-500

125.00-139.00

105.00-117.75

300-400

125.00-143.00

105.00-115.00


Bred Cows

Bred Heifers

Cow/Calf Pairs

n/a

n/a

n/a


All information sourced from Statistics Canada, Alberta Agriculture and CanFax

Canfax Weekly Article

Fed cattle trade was stronger again this week with good support from both local and US packers. Even with the higher Canadian dollar and a tighter basis cattle are continuing to move south. Fed cattle trade for the week saw prices trade from $82.60-85.50 live and $141.50-143.85 on the rail, while heifer trade for the week was $83.40-84.25 and $142.50-143.85 on the rail. Steers averaged $84.70, up $0.60 and heifers averaged $85.22, up $0.70. Sales volumes for the week were 15,168 head, 17% higher than last week. The cash to futures basis strengthened this week to -11.49 from -11.81 last week. USDA fed exports volumes for the week ending February 27 were 10% larger than the previous week at 20,471 head and 3,665 larger than this week last year. Feeder steer prices for Alberta averaged $0.12 lower and the average feeder heifer prices were down $0.16. Alberta auction market volumes were just under 55,500 head steady with last week. Year to date auction market volumes were 12% larger than this week last year at just under 387,000 head.

D1, D2 cow prices were $0.45/cwt higher this week to average $53.11/cwt, while butcher bulls traded $0.45 lower and averaged $62.41/cwt. Bred cows prices weakened to average $817.00 and bred heifers averaged $1040.25, $91.00 higher than last week. Nearby barley futures at Thursday’s close were up $8.50 to finish the week off at $150.00/tonne. This week the Canadian live steer price to Choice cutout value was 55.47%, or 1.12 higher than last week.

Bull factors

  • Fed inventory becoming more current.

  • Smaller showlists.

  • NE continues to be hammered by storms.

Bear factors

  • Live cattle futures are technically overbought.

  • Canadian dollar gathering strength.

  • Consumers still moving cautiously.

For more detailed information on markets this week please visit the NEW Canfax website www.canfax.ca.

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