Summertime always seems to slip by too quickly in the northern U.S. It is hard to believe that communities across the West are already celebrating their county fairs and local rodeos that many look at as a bookend to the long summer days. I know a lot of producers across the western U.S. are battling dry conditions and hot weather, and are probably looking forward to a fall cooldown and some moisture. For many producers across the West, the end of July and August are important times of the year—payday. The market continued to reward these producers for their hard work.
The last couple of months, fellow WLJ representatives and I have been busy attending various video auctions across the West, assisting in marketing hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep. We have all had the pleasure of seeing some record-high prices throughout the summer.
As I sit down to write these Comments, I just finished attending a big three days at the Northern Livestock Video Auction Summertime Classic July 20-22, where there were over 150,000 head of cattle and 15,000 head of sheep offered. It was a great couple of days seeing producers get rewarded for the hard work they put into their product.
We have all seen the downward pressure that’s been put on the feeder and fat board in the last couple of weeks. I am certainly no expert on what happens with the CME board, but what I do know is we have seen some prices comparatively lower since peaking in June at what these calves are worth. These prices we are seeing across the country the past couple of weeks are still at historic levels.
We as cattle producers are a competitive bunch, and that’s one of the reasons I love this business. I know there are some producers kicking dirt, cussing that they should have contracted their calves a little earlier this year. Everyone wants to outsell their neighbor. But in the grand scheme of things, we are still in a great spot. If you compare prices from July 2025 to July 2026, a mid-five-weight steer is still worth close to $370 a head more than they were a year ago.
One of the bright spots we saw in the market in July was the demand for heifers. The gap between the price of steers and heifers narrowed up in July compared to June. The prices on these heifer calves stayed steady with prices we saw in June, even with all the downward pressure in the market. I think we are seeing some added pressure on those replacement-type heifers as producers still look at rebuilding our aging cow herd. Tight supplies still play a factor in making the feeders battle more competitively on those feeder-type heifers to fill pens with a few more heifers ending up in the replacement market.
Another bright spot in the market in July has been the demand for the feeder lambs. Most of those sets of lambs seem to be up well over a dollar a pound from last year. Those big strings of lambs had plenty competition on who was going to own them. Great to see our sheep producers across the West.
With the fluctuations in the market over the summer, I have spoken to a lot of producers who have been debating moving the timing of contracting their calves to try to chase the high in the market. I have been watching the video sale markets for the last 10 summers, and chasing that high can be a dangerous game to play. We see ups and downs every summer in the market. Every year it seems like a different month of the market can hit a high. In my opinion, consistency is key.
The difference in price per head of a mid-five-weight steer from June to July in 2026 was right around $175, with the June contracts higher. If you look back at 2025, the difference between June and July on that same mid-five-weight steer was right around $175 per head, with July the higher month. Seems to me that consistency is key when marketing your calves, and the law of averages will be more in your favor staying consistent than chasing those extra dollars.
I know it can be frustrating when the markets seem to be out of our control with how they move. All the fundamentals are still there for the market to stay strong; our cow herd did not rebuild overnight, and our consumer is still loving beef. — KEVIN MURNIN
