Cattle prices in Saskatchewan last week were mostly up, according to the Canfax Cattle Market Update for the week ending November 15th.
Livestock Intern at the Ministry of Agriculture Emily Schmidt says four of the seven feeder steer weight categories reported increases while three of the six heifer categories were up week-over-week.
The 400-500 pound category had the largest week-over-week gain for feeder steers of $10.38 to an average price of $519.88 per cwt. The 800-900 steer weight category had the largest decrease of $3.56 to $339.07. The 400-500 pound heifer category had the biggest week-over-week price increase of $12.50 to average $447.80 per cwt. The 600-700 pound category had the largest decrease week-over-week among the heifer categories of $5.41 to $357.91 per cwt.
Schmidt says the price increases for some of the categories can likely be attributed to a weak Canadian dollar and a boost in the futures market. She also says the lower number of cattle marketed so far this year compared to last year could increase demand and support prices.
As for the number of cattle marketed last week, they were down compared to the previous week. There were 42,021 head marketed in the province during the week ending November 15, down from 46,905 head the previous week. Canfax notes the over 42-thousand head marketed last week is above the same week last year where 38,009 head were marketed. So far this year, 484,040 feeder cattle have been marketed, which is 15 per cent below 2023.
Prices of live, non-fed cattle in Alberta rebounded last week. D2 slaughter cows averaged $170.56 per cwt, up $3.93, and D3 slaughter cows were up $5.50 to average $160.23 per cwt. Prices for Alberta fed steers were $245.27 per cwt, up $3.34 from the previous week. There was no reported price for Alberta fed steers the same week last year.
