Superior Livestock Auction

Feeders sold $6-9/cwt lower and calves sold $5-12 lower on comparable cattle. Verified program cattle carried the day at Superior Livestock Auction’s Nov. 5 video auction, where producers offered 36,473 head into the eighth consecutive lower session in the cattle futures.

Cattle were consigned from 26 states and drew 90 successful buyers. Cattle sold on contract to deliver immediately through February.

“The market is seeking its level, and we had a very active market at Superior today,” said Ralph Wade, auctioneer for Superior Livestock Auction. “Cattle with genetics and health protocols are bringing more buyer demand and showing strength. In this kind of market you have to stay the course and stay with your program.”

Verified program cattle carried the day. A set of 252 weaned steer calves out of Jordan Valley, OR, enrolled in VAC 45, Superior Verified, AngusLink, non-hormone treated cattle and Superior Progressive Genetics, weighed 580 pounds and brought $476/cwt, or approximately $2,761 a head, the strongest money of any lot in its weight class. A second Warn Ranches set at 500 lbs. brought $500/cwt, or about $2,500 a head. Out of Erick, OK, 68 weaned heifer calves at 750 lbs. on VAC 60 and Progressive Genetics brought $370/cwt, roughly $2,775 a head. Feeder steers out of Grinnell, KS, at 825 lbs. brought $354/cwt, near $2,921 a head.

Pressure came from the fed cattle side. Southern cash traded $7/cwt lower on the week, December live cattle closed $3.60 lower at $214.40, and November feeder cattle closed $6.97 lower at $324.92. The CME Feeder Cattle Index eased $2.20 to $346.58. Supply has not loosened with the board. Yearlings remain hard to source, a large share of this year’s calves is already committed, and available numbers are expected to run lighter than usual through the end of the year.

Moisture kept building across grazing country. The U.S. Drought Monitor removed short-term drought from New Mexico, the Southwest and the Great Basin, with improvements also reaching western Oklahoma, western Colorado and the Nebraska Panhandle.