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Missouri cattle market seeing record sales

A regional livestock specialist with the University of Missouri Extension says the state’s cattle market ended 2024 on a high note.

“We set ourselves a regional record by breaking our first million-dollar sale.”

Daniel Mallory says the final fall sale of Show-Me-Select heifers in mid-December continued the trend of high heifer prices.

“They’re still maintaining the numbers that they have.”  He says, “They’re just not increasing.  It’s your basic supply and demand. If they’ve already got the herd maintained, they can keep the same number without having to spend the extra dollars to go out and buy more heifers to increase the supply side.”

He tells Brownfield the six regional fall sales of high-quality bred heifers averaged just over $3,400 per head.

“It’s almost the perfect time to be in the market selling bred heifers.”  He says, “We do have several that do purchase a lot of heifers, and their numbers are down a little bit, 20% to 30%, but they’re still buying some so they can stay in it, but they are watching their costs as well.”

Mallory says he expects most producers to continue to maintain herd sizes into 2025.

The record-setting final sale at Palmyra saw 53 buyers set a northeastern Missouri record $1,162,600 worth of bred heifers exchanging hands.

AUDIO: Daniel Mallory – University of Missouri Extension