For the week ending March 22, Western Canadian feeder cattle markets traded steady to $5 higher on average. Higher quality strings under 600 pounds traded $5 to as much as $10 higher in some cases but the lighter weight categories were quite variable across the Prairies.
Calf numbers are limited at this time of year and there appears to be stronger demand for grassers. The June live cattle futures traded to fresh contract highs reaching $207 on March 21 which renewed the bullish enthusiasm. The trend is your friend was the overall theme this past week. Feedlot operators continue to shrug off the potential U.S. tariff threat coming on April 2 as various announcements from the White House were viewed as friendly for cattle and beef.
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At the Ponoka sale on March 19, a larger group of red mixed steers weighing 911 pounds on barley and silage diet with full processing records sold for $377. North of Saskatoon, mixed “cleaned up” steers on backgrounding ration with full preconditioning gauged at 920 pounds traded for $359. At the Lloydminster sale, Simmental based heifers scaled at 902 pounds dropped the gavel at $345. In southern Alberta, larger frame mixed medium flesh heifers weighing 875 pounds on background controlled weight gain ration with full preconditioned records were priced at $360 fob farm.
At the Ste. Rose Auction in Manitoba, black white face steers weighing 824 pound reportedly traded for $400. At the same sale, Charolais heifers evaluated at 840 pounds moved through the ring at $354.
In central Saskatchewan, larger frame, thin, Simmental based steers on the card at $710 pounds apparently sold for $433. Northeast of Calgary, wide frame thin lean Limousin cross heifers with a mean weight of 700 pounds were valued at $394.
In Southern Alberta, Gelbvieh golden weaned steer calves around 610 pounds with full preconditioning records were valued at $490. In the Edmonton area, a smaller package of Charolais heifers weighing just over 600 pounds supposedly rang the bell at $460. In central Saskatchewan, a smaller package of medium frame, black mixed, weaned heifers weighing 610 pounds apparently traded for $440.
At the Ponoka sale, a small package of mixed weaned steers on silage and canola meal diet with full processing data weighing 525 pounds reached up to $580. At the Lloydminster sale, black steers weighing just over 500 pounds were last bid at $575. At the same sale, black heifers evaluated at 518 pounds reached $505. In southern Alberta, larger frame mixed heifers scaled at 510 pounds supposedly traded at $495.
In Western Canada, cattle on feed 150 days and longer as of March 1 were sharply lower than last year. However, Alberta packers were buying fed cattle on a dressed basis in the range of $450-$455, relatively unchanged from last week. The Canadian consumer is backing away from the market at higher levels. Secondly, Alberta packers don’t want to be overbought with cattle if beef is on the list of U.S. tariffs to be implemented on April 2.
