Work · Fed cattle
Fed cattle prices this week
What packers pay for slaughter-ready steers and heifers on negotiated cash deals, live and dressed, in the 5-area market and region by region, from USDA’s mandatory reports. Every week since 2020, with this week’s days so far.
- Week
- Oct 19 to Oct 25, 2026
- Live steers
- $227.08 +$2.89
- Dressed steers
- $360.79 +$8.27
- Head
- 19,892
- Live, Thu, Oct 29 report
- $224.05
The pages update every morning and when USDA posts new prices. This updates them now, for everyone (once an hour).
The 5-area fed cattle price
In the week of Oct 19 to Oct 25, 2026, packers paid $227.08 per hundredweight for live steers in the 5-area market (+$2.89 from the week before) and $360.79 for dressed steers, delivered (+$8.27). USDA counted 19,892 head of steers and heifers bought on negotiated cash deals that week. So far this week, the latest daily report (Thursday, October 29) has live steers at $224.05 and dressed at $352.08.
Is the live steer price high or low? · On the low side
Higher than on 13 of the other 52 weeks it traded in the past year.
Lowest of the yearHighest of the year
A year earlier (week of Oct 20, 2025) live steers brought $237.89; this week is −4.5% against that. Over the past year they averaged $236.83, from a low of $211.53 (week of Nov 24, 2025) to a high of $262.85 (week of May 11, 2026). The highest on record since 2020 is $262.85, in the week of May 11, 2026.
Live steers and heifers, the past year Oct 27, 2025 to Oct 26, 2026
- Steers
- Heifers
- 5-area weighted average, live, FOB, dollars per hundredweight
Fed cattle prices by region
What was paid in the week of Oct 19 to Oct 25, 2026 in each region USDA reports, live (FOB the feedlot) and dressed (delivered), all steers and heifers. A region with no price this week had too few cash trades to publish; its page shows the last week that had them.
| Region | Live | Change | Dressed | Change | Head |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5-area Texas-Oklahoma-New Mexico, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado and Iowa-Minnesota | $227.35 | +$3.26 | $360.29 | +$8.08 | 19,892 |
| Texas-Oklahoma Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico | — | — | — | — | last: week of Jun 22, 2026 |
| Kansas Kansas | — | — | — | — | last: week of Aug 10, 2026 |
| Nebraska Nebraska | $228.33 | +$2.69 | $358.86 | +$6.86 | 9,954 |
| Colorado Colorado | — | — | — | — | last: week of Dec 19, 2022 |
| Western Cornbelt Iowa, Minnesota and Missouri | $226.66 | +$3.49 | $362.31 | +$9.70 | 9,978 |
| Eastern Cornbelt Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Kentucky | $223.30 | +$1.05 | — | — | 1,034 |
| Northern Plains Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota and North Dakota | $227.31 | +$2.59 | $355.48 | +$5.02 | 5,523 |
| Western States Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Washington, Oregon and Idaho | — | — | — | — | last: week of Sep 29, 2025 |
| Northeast Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, West Virginia and New England | $221.41 | +$2.54 | — | — | 534 |
Day by day: the 5-area daily report
Steers, all grades, from negotiated purchases (LM_CT100). Each report posts late in the morning and covers the purchases of the business day before it. Many days have little trade: cash buying bunches into a day or two each week.
| Report | Live | Head | Dressed | Head | All classes, the day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu, Oct 29 | $224.05 | 8,480 | $352.08 | 13,378 | 34,797 |
| Wed, Oct 28 | $230.00 | 128 | $365.00 | 900 | 1,070 |
| Tue, Oct 27 | $222.00 | 32 | — | — | 32 |
| Mon, Oct 26 | $227.08 | 5,175 | $360.79 | 6,562 | 19,892 |
| Mon, Oct 19 | $224.48 | 21,657 | $352.42 | 12,500 | 49,797 |
| Fri, Oct 16 | $222.37 | 3,471 | $353.17 | 1,942 | 13,286 |
| Wed, Oct 14 | — | — | — | — | 36 |
| Mon, Oct 12 | $220.52 | 14,277 | $346.04 | 2,140 | 23,430 |
| Fri, Oct 9 | $219.10 | 5,284 | $345.57 | 9,180 | 22,882 |
| Thu, Oct 8 | — | — | — | — | 430 |
By class, selling basis and grade
The week of Oct 19 to Oct 25, 2026 in the 5-area market, per hundredweight, with the head count under each price. The grade is the share of the pen that graded Choice.
| Class and basis | All grades | Over 80% Choice | 65–80% Choice | 35–65% Choice | 0–35% Choice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steers Live, FOB the feedlot | $227.08 5,175 head | $227.08 5,175 head | — | — | — |
| Steers Live, delivered | $226.00 37 head | $226.00 37 head | — | — | — |
| Steers Dressed, FOB the feedlot | $358.00 429 head | $358.00 429 head | — | — | — |
| Steers Dressed, delivered | $360.79 6,562 head | $361.05 6,196 head | $356.36 366 head | — | — |
| Heifers Live, FOB the feedlot | $227.92 3,998 head | $227.92 3,998 head | — | — | — |
| Heifers Live, delivered | $226.00 35 head | $226.00 35 head | — | — | — |
| Heifers Dressed, FOB the feedlot | $358.00 40 head | $358.00 40 head | — | — | — |
| Heifers Dressed, delivered | $357.67 1,478 head | $357.67 1,478 head | — | — | — |
| Mixed steers and heifers Live, FOB the feedlot | $226.63 1,244 head | $226.63 1,244 head | — | — | — |
| Mixed steers and heifers Live, delivered | $226.46 136 head | $226.46 136 head | — | — | — |
| Mixed steers and heifers Dressed, FOB the feedlot | $355.00 40 head | $355.00 40 head | — | — | — |
| Mixed steers and heifers Dressed, delivered | $361.10 718 head | $361.10 718 head | — | — | — |
Sell live or in the beef?
A pen can sell live, on its live weight, or in the beef, on its carcass weight. Which pays more depends on how the cattle dress. Enter your numbers; the prices start at this week’s.
Enter the weight, dressing percentage and prices to compare.
Live is FOB the feedlot and dressed is delivered to the plant, so the freight and shrink sit differently on each side. It’s a price comparison, not a bid.
Fed cattle since 2020
Every week since the week of Dec 30, 2019, 356 weeks of 5-area steers, live and dressed.
Live steers, every week Jan 6, 2020 to Oct 26, 2026
- Live steers
- Dollars per hundredweight, live weight
Dressed steers, every week Jan 6, 2020 to Oct 26, 2026
- Dressed steers
- Dollars per hundredweight, carcass weight
Live steers, average by month
| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 232.86 | 243.09 | 238.24 | 246.73 | 259.04 | 258.00 | 244.59 | 228.74 | 221.12 | 221.97 | · | · | 239.44 |
| 2025 | 203.67 | 205.20 | 206.83 | 211.70 | 224.32 | 234.07 | 236.12 | 242.99 | 239.47 | 236.63 | 226.05 | 223.57 | 224.22 |
| 2024 | 173.96 | 180.55 | 186.55 | 184.83 | 187.40 | 191.58 | 195.04 | 190.45 | 183.60 | 188.25 | 187.25 | 192.57 | 186.84 |
| 2023 | 156.61 | 160.83 | 164.77 | 175.06 | 175.78 | 184.92 | 183.76 | 185.26 | 183.51 | 184.26 | 180.24 | 171.41 | 175.53 |
| 2022 | 137.92 | 141.32 | 139.14 | 140.64 | 142.03 | 141.96 | 143.48 | 143.65 | 143.62 | 147.95 | 153.48 | 156.04 | 144.27 |
| 2021 | 110.34 | 113.44 | 114.30 | 121.17 | 119.29 | 121.58 | 122.51 | 123.94 | 124.55 | 123.46 | 132.19 | 139.19 | 122.16 |
| 2020 | 124.24 | 120.35 | 112.77 | 103.44 | 108.13 | 106.88 | 96.08 | 103.47 | 103.53 | 107.04 | 108.31 | 108.30 | 108.55 |
Each month is weighted by each week’s head count.
The fed cattle price’s usual year
Each month against its own year’s average, the median over 2020–2025: live steers usually run highest in July (+2.3%) and lowest in January (−8.0%).
- Jan−8.0%
- Feb−5.3%
- Mar−4.8%
- Apr−1.8%
- May−0.2%
- Jun+1.0%
- Jul+2.3%
- Aug+1.7%
- Sep+0.8%
- Oct+1.8%
- Nov+1.7%
- Dec+1.4%
Download the data
These files are also listed with every other dataset on this site, on Open data.
Every week and region, with every class, selling basis, grade and purchase type USDA publishes, as CSV files free to use. The numbers are USDA’s and in the public domain; credit USDA AMS.
| File | Rows | Size | What’s in it |
|---|---|---|---|
| fed-cattle-weekly.csv | 55,359 | 5,963 KB | Every region, class, basis and grade, every week since 2020 |
| fed-cattle-5-area-daily.csv | 32,760 | 2,237 KB | The 5-area daily report, every business day since 2020 |
The latest week, region by region, is also in latest.json.
The columns
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| report_date, week_start, week_end | The weekly report’s date (a Monday) and the week it covers, Monday to Sunday. |
| region | five-area, texas-oklahoma, kansas, nebraska, colorado, western-cornbelt, eastern-cornbelt, northern-plains, western-states or northeast. |
| purchase | cash (negotiated cash) or grid (the base price of a negotiated grid). |
| class, basis, grade | Class (all, steer, heifer…), selling basis (live_fob, dressed_delivered…) and grade (total or the pen’s share of Choice). |
| head, dress_pct | Head bought and dressing percentage. |
| weight_low … weighted_average | Weights (lb) and prices (dollars per hundredweight): low, high and weighted average. |
Every region page
More USDA market prices on this site
Questions
What is the 5-area price?
The weighted average of what packers paid for fed cattle across the five main feeding regions: Texas-Oklahoma-New Mexico, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado and Iowa-Minnesota. It’s USDA’s main benchmark for the fed cattle market.
What’s the difference between live and dressed?
Live is per hundredweight of the live animal, weighed at the feedlot (FOB). Dressed (“in the beef”) is per hundredweight of the carcass after slaughter, delivered to the plant. The dressing percentage (carcass weight over live weight, about 63%) turns one into the other; the calculator above does the math.
Why do some regions have no price this week?
USDA publishes no price when there were too few cash trades, or when it would give away who bought. In Texas-Oklahoma and Kansas cash trade is thin (the data shows it: many weeks with no price), so those weeks the region is left blank, never zero.
Where does the data come from, and when?
From USDA’s Livestock Mandatory Reporting: the 5-area weekly (LM_CT150), the Texas-Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska weeklies (LM_CT156 to 158), the national weekly with its regional table (LM_CT154) and the 5-area daily (LM_CT100). The weeklies post on Mondays and the daily every business day around midday, Central time.
How it works
Copied Oct 30, 2026The same way as the beef and pork boards: the history is USDA’s own, served with no key. At least once a day a GitHub Action reads back the CSVs already published, asks USDA only for the current year and the daily report’s last month, and rebuilds this board, a page per region and the files. Nothing here keeps a second copy of what USDA already stores, and visiting costs nothing to run. Source: USDA AMS; any mistakes in presenting the numbers are mine.