by Andrew Griffith, Livestock Marketing Specialist
April 17, 2026
FED CATTLE
Fed cattle traded mostly steady on a live basis compared to last week. Prices on a live basis were mainly $246 to $249 while prices on a dressed basis were largely $386 to $389.
The 5-area weighted average prices thru Thursday were $248.08 live, up $2.50 compared to a week ago and $388.28 dressed with no comparison from last week. A year ago, prices were $211.60 live and $336.83 dressed.
Cattle feeders and packers traded a few cattle Wednesday, but activity picked up considerably on Thursday. This is one of the few weeks over the past several months where both parties were willing to do business before the eleventh hour. I doubt the packer or the cattle feeder feels much like a winner at this price level. The packer is paying more for cattle on a dressed basis than the Choice cutout is returning. The cattle feeder is receiving $3,720 per head of revenue for a 1,500 pound steer and paying $3,200 to replace it with a 900 pound steer. It may be difficult to put 600 pounds of gain on an animal with only $520 to work with. This does not look like a profitable trade at the moment.
BEEF CUTOUT
At midday Friday, the Choice cutout was $381.22 down $0.35 from Thursday and down $0.46 from a week ago. The Select cutout was $377.36 down $1.12 from Thursday and down $6.39 from last week. The Choice Select spread was $3.86 compared to negative $2.07 a week ago.
The Choice Select spread was negative last week, but the spread returned to some form of normalcy this week without the wholesale Choice boxed beef price changing much at all. As the beef market continues to close in on the start of the grilling season, the expectation is for Choice beef prices to increase relative to Select beef prices. This expectation is primarily based on seasonally increasing demand for steak cuts from the rib and loin primal as consumers begin pulling out the grill for the summer holiday weekends. Though holiday weekends tend to be the driver of summer beef grilling, the key to sustaining high boxed beef prices will be if consumers grill high valued steak cuts all of the other weekends and some during the week. There is no doubt consumers will continue to lean on grilling hamburgers as they are fan favorites anytime, but this only provides marginal support for finished cattle values. The unknown is where the answer is and that unknown is how the consumer will spend disposable income this summer. The hope would be it goes to purchasing beef.
OUTLOOK
Based on Tennessee weekly auction market average prices, steer prices were $1 to $5 higher than last week, while heifer prices were $3 to $8 higher compared to the previous week. Slaughter cow prices were $1 to $2 higher this week compared to a week ago while slaughter bull prices were $3 to $4 higher compared to last week. The discussion last week focused on the value of heavy feeder cattle ready to enter the feedlot, which in short was 850 pound to 975 pound steers being valued between $3,000 and $3,200 per head. This provides a good opportunity to discuss calf values relative to feeder cattle values. Based on Tennessee weekly auction data, a 525 pound steer was valued near $2,625 per head. It is not appropriate to compare the price being paid for freshly weaned calves today to the price received for yearling type cattle. Thus, one has to look four to five months down the road and estimate the expected price of an 800 to 900 pound steer in August or September. Growing a calf at 2 pounds per day for 150 days would result in an 825 pound steer being sold in September. The expected value of that steer in September is $3,050 per head. Thus, a person has $425 to work with to put 300 pounds of gain on an animal. This means there is a little room to work with, but there is very little room to work with given the current purchase price and the expected sell price. The system one is working in will determine the actual ability to profit from this trade. There is not much room for profit regardless of the system, and the return on investment in any system appears poor. This certainly raises the question of what should a stocker producer do at this point. There are no good answers for the stocker producer in this market. The answer for the cow-calf producer is to continue producing as many calves as possible, but they must also ask how long and to what weight should they be holding calves. The cattle market is still the same game. The only difference is more dollars are involved with every decision.
The April cattle on feed report for feedlots with a 1000 head or more capacity indicated cattle and calves on feed as of April 1, 2026 totaled 11.58 million head, down 0.5% compared to a year ago, with the pre-report estimate average expecting a decrease of 0.2%. March placements in feedlots totaled 1.71 million head, down 7.3% from a year ago with the pre-report estimate average expecting placements down 6.5%. March marketing’s totaled 1.63 million head down 5.5% from 2025 with pre-report estimates expecting marketings down 6.3%. Placements on feed by weight: under 700 pounds down 8.1%, 700 to 899 pounds down 7.5%, 900 pounds and over down 4.2%.
ASK ANDREW, TN THINK TANK
Is that all you are willing to pay? Is that all you can afford to pay? These two questions were asked by the same person. They were kind of made as a joke, but they are questions that people ask even if they are never verbalized. Anytime a person thinks the price of something they are selling should be higher than what they are being offered, some form of these two questions come to mind. Regardless that cattle prices are at record levels, producers selling cattle always want just a little more. There probably are very few complaints about the price being received, but it does not mean a person would not accept more for the good they are selling. Producers tend to compare the price they received to the price someone else received. If the price they received was lower than someone else’s then they feel they got a bad deal. Several factors influence the price of cattle and rarely are two calves exactly the same. Price discovery is an amazing thing, and it is present at most livestock auctions.
Please send questions and comments to agriff14@utk.edu.
FRIDAY’S FUTURES MARKET CLOSING PRICES
Friday’s closing prices were as follows: Live/fed cattle –April $249.95 -0.35; June $247.35 -0.28; August $242.83 -0.25; Feeder cattle –April $371.33 -1.75; May $365.28 -1.83; August $365.68 -2.85; September $363.60 -2.83; May corn closed at $4.49 no change from Thursday.