Slaughter cows and bulls stabilized this week, supported by good demand and the addition of one more packer buyer. Yearlings steady to stronger again. Calf market is holding very firm, not really getting higher but showing resilience in the face of very large numbers. Some industry participants and market operators are optimistic about a big, late fall calf run. I’m not so sure.  Southern Saskatchewan and Alberta have already seen peak numbers and volumes will drop precipitously after next week. In 10 days the fireworks will be over here too.  As of Friday afternoon, according to Canfax, auction market volumes (including all video and forward delivery sales) were down 19% on a year to date basis. We have very little time to make that up. We’ll see what happens but my belief is that the calf run will be shockingly smaller due to reduced cow numbers and a sneaky high heifer retention. This will be very supportive to late season calf prices.  Ian