by Andrew Griffith, Livestock Marketing Specialist
March 13, 2026
FED CATTLE
Fed cattle traded $4 to $5 lower on live basis compared to last week. Prices on a live basis were mainly $234 to $236 while dressed prices were mainly $372.
The 5-area weighted average prices thru Thursday were $234.77 live, down $5.23 compared to a week ago and $372.04 dressed, down $3.34 compared to last week. A year ago, prices were $205.30 live and $324.97 dressed.
Finished cattle prices continue their plunge as live cattle futures are dip due to negative rhetoric in the industry. It is difficult to know if the conflict in Iran is contributing to softer finished cattle prices or not. In other words, is the Iran conflict “causation” or just “correlation?” It really does not matter either way as the strike by workers at JBS in Greeley, Colorado is certainly on the causation side of the coin. Workers at JBS-Greeley are scheduled to lay down their knives and pickup their picket signs on March 16th. This means fewer cattle harvested every day and a further tightening of beef supplies. JBS may come out ahead due to this strike, but they are sure to be working on a deal to end the labor strike.
BEEF CUTOUT
At midday Friday, the Choice cutout was $397.25 up $0.16 from Thursday and up $10.18 from a week ago. The Select cutout was $390.86 up $0.04 from Thursday and up $10.79 from last week. The Choice Select spread was $6.39 compared to $7.00 a week ago.
Last week comments contained a statement that retailers, restaurants and food service may be attempting to secure some beef needs now to put in storage heading into the grilling season to take advantage of today’s lower prices. It was also stated this comment may be a stretch. It now seems that statement was not much of a stretch as wholesale beef prices continue pushing higher at a rapid pace. The Choice cutout is $56 per hundredweight higher than the start of the year. The loin primal price is nearly $82 per hundredweight higher than where it started the year, and it contains some of the cuts that are considered highly valuable for summer grilling. The rib primal price has increased more than $38 over that time period and is up nearly $50 per hundredweight since the end of January. The chuck and round primal values have increased about $55 per hundredweight since the beginning of the year. The change in the chuck and round are important because of the percentage of the carcass they compose. The brisket is the only price that has declined.
OUTLOOK
Based on Tennessee weekly auction market average prices, steer prices were $ 2 to $6 lower than last week, while heifer prices were unevenly steady compared to the previous week. Slaughter cow prices were steady to $2 lower this week compared to a week ago while slaughter bull prices were steady to $1 lower compared to last week. Calf and feeder cattle markets have been pressured the past couple of weeks. The pressure on local cash prices largely stems from three consecutive weeks of lower feeder cattle futures. The nearby feeder cattle futures contract price has declined about $20, per hundredweight the past three weeks. The market has not seen that magnitude of a decline in cash feeder cattle prices at this point, but that does not mean it cannot occur. The cash market has not seen the same decline as the futures market, because demand for cattle of nearly every weight class remains resilient despite the negativity bleeding into the futures market. Speaking more directly to cash feeder cattle prices, the CME feeder cattle index, which is a seven-day weighted rolling average of 700-899 pound steers marketed in a 12-state region west of the Mississippi River was $377.37 per hundredweight on February 19th. By March 11th, the CME feeder cattle index was $360.97, which is a $16 per hundredweight decline over three weeks. The point that should be mentioned is that the index is trading with a $13 positive basis. In other words, the CME feeder cattle index price is $13 higher than March feeder cattle futures. This clearly indicates futures market participants are undervaluing feeder cattle relative to what the cash market is valuing them. Several 50,000 pound loads of cattle were marketed in Tennessee this week. Several of the loads of steers had average weights between 875 and 960 pounds with feeder steers being valued between $2,900 and $3,000 per head. The majority of heifer loads selling weighed between 770 and 840 pounds and were largely valued between $2,560 and $2,680 per head.
ASK ANDREW, TN THINK TANK
Can a person purchase better quality hay than they can produce themselves? This question is driven from the question of if a person is better off purchasing hay or producing their own hay. There are several factors that determine if a person should produce hay or purchase hay, but those details are not the intent of this response. When attempting to evaluate if a person should producer their own hay or purchase hay is to make sure the hay business can stand alone and not be grouped with the cattle business. If the hay business can make money and the cattle business can make money by themselves then there is some flexibility. Back to the original question, a person can almost always purchase better quality hay than they produce. It may not be feasible from a price perspective, but it is almost always possible. From a local hay purchase standpoint, whatever challenges an individual may have harvesting hay at the appropriate time will likely be faced by most producers resulting in similar quality hay regardless of who harvesting hay.
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 $230.90 -0.35; June $228.95 -0.43; August $226.83 -0.45; Feeder cattle –March $349.48 +1.25; April $343.10 +0.10; May $339.18 -0.75; August $339.48 -0.73; May corn closed at $4.67 up 5 cents from Thursday.