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Slaughter cattle market remains competitive

The market manager for the Missouri Department of Agriculture says the slaughter cattle market continues to bring historically high prices. Tony Hancock says there has been a lot of competition for those cattle at sale barns.  “Some of the top end of the slaughter cows that maybe could have went back home or went to slaughter either one carrying some cover, we’ve got some of those cows bringing up almost $2.00 a pound now,” he says. 

He tells Brownfield the replacement market is the main driver. “Which is quite strong as well with the hints of that green grass showing up,” he says. “There are several guys out there looking to add a few cows to their herds. I won’t say it’s huge or widespread, but it is definitely happening in some areas.”

Hancock says slaughter bulls are even selling at a premium, and last week brought up to $2.50 a pound, which is about $.50 to $.75 higher than the average.