It was another interesting week in the cattle markets.

Saskatchewan's Ministry of Agriculture's weekly cattle marketing report shows feeder steer and heifer prices were mainly lower across all weight categories last week.

Canfax reported a total of 5,927 head of cattle were sold in Saskatchewan for the week ending May 14, down from 10,738 head during the previous week, but similar to the 5,742 head marketed during the same week in 2020.

According to the report, the biggest drop for feeder steers was in the 400 to 500 pound weight category, with prices dropping $15 cwt to end the week averaging $237.67 cwt. The smallest price decrease week over week was in the 700-800lb weight category, with prices decreasing $0.55 per cwt to end the week averaging $195.70 per cwt. The 800-900lb weight category ended the week with an average price of $179.30 per cwt. The weekly average steer price across the reported weight categories was $203.81 per cwt in Saskatchewan.

The Saskatchewan feeder cattle prices are provided by Canfax and showed Saskatchewan feeder heifer prices were lower across all the reported weight categories.
The largest price decrease was seen in the 400-500lb weight category, with prices decreasing by $9.46 per cwt to end the week averaging $199.04 per cwt. The smallest price decrease was seen in the 800+lb weight category, with prices declining by $2.56 per cwt to end the week averaging $158.75 per cwt. The weekly average heifer price across the reported weight categories was $182.67 per cwt in Saskatchewan.

The price of D2 slaughter cows moved up 82 cents per hundred weight for an average of $ 97.07 per hundred weight, while D3 slaughter cows had an increase of $1.15 per hundred weight for an average of $84.25 per hundred weight.

Provincial Cattle Specialist Natasha Wilkie talked about some factors influencing the markets.

"We saw the price for feed barley it jumped again, made quite a large jump again, and then the dollar is also going up it settled at 0.8258 cents as of Friday against the US dollar."

Brian Perillat, a Manager and Senior Analyst with Canfax, says the dollar just continues to trend higher which is always a bit of a weight on the market.

"That's the thing working against us here with both grain and the dollar rising and continuing to rise at eighty three, eighty four cents. Hopefully there's some resistance there as we push over at eighty two and a half, more recently and, you know, we just continue to watch that and the US dollar. Overall commodity markets are quite strong, and it's hard to get too bearish on the Canadian Dollar when, you know, general commodity markets are strong or strengthening as well."

Anne Wasko is a rancher at Eastend, Saskatchewan and Market Analyst with Cattle Trends.

She says for producers watching whats happening with the wholesale prices is very frustrating as well.

She notes the US wholesale price/choice cutout levels are at the second-highest levels we've ever seen, higher only when packing plants were shut down or slowed down during COVID, which at the time was a supply issue.

"This isn't a supply issue, this is more cattle than there is hook space, generally speaking in the US. Certainly that has meant big margins for packers, and we haven't seen cattle prices at the feedlot or at the producer level, you know moving in step with that. So that it's a frustrating time when you see one piece of the market moving faster than the other."

Wasko notes added to the frustration for producers has been the dry conditions.

"All of the southern prairies are in some shape of drought, and it's a concern in terms of seed, pasture, water, many of the things you've been talking about on your show. So we continue to watch the skies. We see moisture in the forecast for this weekend, so fingers crossed, that it's you know more than just the trace."