by Andrew Griffith, Livestock Marketing Specialist
August 7, 2026
FED CATTLE
Fed cattle traded $2 higher on a live basis compared to last week. Prices on a live basis were mainly $235 to $237 while dressed prices were mainly $370 to $372.
The 5-area weighted average prices through Thursday were $235.22 live, up $2.45 from last week and $371.16 dressed, up $9.41 from last week. A year ago, prices were $239.26 live and $380.00 dressed.
Finished cattle trade was little quicker to develop this week compared to many of the prior weeks. Packers were willing to pay higher prices, and this may be because wholesale beef prices inched higher. However, it was a little surprising they did not wait it out until the last minute as they have in previous weeks. The weekly average price of live cattle futures is higher than last week, which may be one reason packers were willing to do business before Friday, but they may be wishing they would have waited with the softer week-over-week price for August live cattle futures when comparing the Friday-to-Friday change. The stronger cash market and softer live cattle futures market will make next week more interesting.
BEEF CUTOUT
At midday Friday, the Choice cutout was $364.22 up $0.36 from Thursday and up $2.69 from a week ago. The Select cutout was $351.13 up $1.35 from Thursday and up $3.98 from last week. The Choice Select spread was $13.09 compared to $14.38 a week ago.
Wholesale beef prices rebounded slightly this week, which is most likely associated with purchases for Labor Day weekend. The last summer grilling holiday is four weeks out, and consumers will take advantage of the three-day weekend. The question is how willing are they to make beef the feature dish. It tends to be more of a ground beef weekend than a middle meats weekend. At this point in the game, keeping beef moving is more important than the exact product that is moving. The reason for this statement is because beef demand tends to soften in late summer and through the fall months. Thus, the fact beef is moving is a key component during a time period when beef demand is seasonally soft. There are certainly industry participants already gauging how strong the rib primal will be for the holiday season, but there is a lot of beef that must flow through the marketplace between now and then. Will some high-quality grade beef go to grind instead of being marketed as muscle cuts? It is certainly a possibility with the increased grading percentage.
OUTLOOK
Based on Tennessee weekly auction market average prices, steer prices were $9 to $21 higher compared to last week, while heifer prices were $3 to $15 higher compared to the previous week. Slaughter cow prices were steady to $1 higher this week compared to a week ago while slaughter bull prices were steady compared to last week. There is an odd dichotomy as feeder cattle futures started the week slow before increasing a couple of days and then collapsing on Thursday back to where they finished last week and started this week. Alternatively, the cash market strengthened, which means the dichotomy is between futures traders and actual cattle producers. Futures traders are not convinced cattle prices should be at the levels they are, and they are certainly indicating prices should not increase. However, cattle producers are in support of higher prices as they pushed the cash price of calves and feeder cattle higher this week. What becomes clear when evaluating markets is everything depends on the people who make up that market. Markets are not something that can be seen or touched per se, but rather markets are the aggregation of individuals producing or consuming the good. With that said, futures traders attempt to trade what they think a group of people are going to do on aggregate. It has more to do with psychology than anything else, and that is psychology of what goods consumers will purchase and how much as well as cattle producers’ actions as far as increasing or decreasing supply. Given this week’s price action, it would appear there is a differing of thoughts between those trading futures and those trading cattle on the cash market. This is not a new situation or scenario, but the magnitude of difference is larger than what is typical. The July 1 cattle inventory report was clear in that heifer retention is not moving at warp speed. There is certainly interest in that arena, but all one has to do is look at the drought monitor to see many regions of the country do not have the forage resources to grow the herd.
ASK ANDREW, TN THINK TANK
The Tri-State Beef Conference was held in Blountville, TN on Tuesday August 4th. The program had several top-notch speakers who did a great job conveying useful information to attendees. The conference seemed to have a theme of “managing the business” though it was not purposefully set up that way. A few key takeaways producers may have recognized was the importance of asking questions, putting in the effort to create opportunities, keeping priorities in order, taking advantage of opportunities, putting others before oneself, and many more. Some of the presentations dug deeper into specifics whether it be animal health, tax implications when extremely profitable or utilizing new technologies. Regardless of the topic, presenters challenged attendees to think strategically and outside the normal wave length. One aspect or statement that was not expressly stated but still clear was, producers have to be willing to stretch themselves through change. This is difficult, because few people like change. But complacency is like sinking sand.
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 –August $231.70 +0.48; October $225.28 +0.35; December $224.15 -0.23; Feeder cattle –August $351.65 +3.60; September $345.23 +3.65; October $334.93 +2.98; November $326.63 +2.28; September corn closed at $4.39 no change from Thursday.