Daily Cattle Report

Friday July 30, 2010

Slaughter Report Last updated July 30, 2010

Feeder Report Last updated July 29, 2010

Alberta Cattle Industry Market Report

Alberta direct cattle sales on Thursday saw some light clean-up trade with business being completed for the week. Prices continued steady with Wednesday and last week.

Live

Rail

Steers

89.00

148.00-148.85

Heifers

n/a

148.85


In the cow and bull trade in Southern Alberta on Thursday:

D1, D2 cows

D3 cows

Bulls

55.00-63.50

n/a

63.00-75.00

US Trade

U.S. trade picked up on Thursday afternoon but continued $2.00 lower than last week. Clean-up trade could continue today.

Live

Rail

Choice Steers

93.00

147.00-148.00

Choice Heifers

93.00

147.00-148.00


Midwest direct slaughter cow trade this morning:

Boner Cows

Rail

Over 500 lbs

111.00-120.00

Canadian Dollar

The Canadian dollar at 8:30 this morning was trading at 96.74, up 0.17.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange

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

August

October

December

92.02, +0.17

93.77, +0.30

95.85, +0.17

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 Wednesday:

Steers

Heifers

900+

95.00-105.00

90.00-98.00

800-900

100.00-110.00

90.00-102.00

700-800

100.00-115.00

95.00-106.00

600-700

105.00-125.00

95.00-110.00

500-600

110.00-130.00

100.00-115.00

400-500

125.00-135.00

100.00-120.00

300-400

120.00-140.00

105.00-125.00


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

Last week’s large fed offering had strong fundamental support. Buyer interest started out soft but by Wednesday afternoon dressed bids firmed $2.00 higher than the previous week. Forward sold local packers continue to run fairly close to the knife and needed to get some inventory bought. Last week the Canfax weighted average steer price was $89.00/cwt, $1.12/cwt higher than the previous week and heifers traded $0.36/cwt higher to average $87.90/cwt. Sale volumes of just over 25,000 head were 9% lower than the previous week. The cash to futures basis narrowed to -7.80 compared to -8.09 the previous week. USDA fed export volumes for the week ending July 10th were unavailable last week. Alberta feeder prices continued mostly steady with the previous week. Steer prices were $0.57/cwt higher while the average feeder heifer price was up $0.29/cwt. Alberta auction volumes were just over 17,000 head, up 33% from the previous week. YTD auction volumes were 8% higher at just under 950,000 head. USDA feeder exports to the U.S. for the week ending July 10th were unavailable last week. D1, D2 cows traded $1.48/cwt higher and averaged $59.26/cwt. Butcher bull prices were $1.63/cwt higher to average $72.81/cwt. Very few bred females are seasonally available and prices are too slight to quote. Good cow/calf pairs saw prices firm this week with a range of $1000.00-1400.00. Nearby barley futures on Thursday saw no change and closed at $156.50/tonne.

Bull factors

  • Tight non-fed supply is shoring up local fed prices.

  • Packer inventories are smaller, and local demand for cattle has been strong.

  • Beef demand has been quite strong for this time of the year.

Bear factors

  • Northwest US buyer interest is waning.

  • Feedlot supplies are large and carcass weights are trending larger.

  • Nearby live cattle futures are overbought and due to fall.

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

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