Slaughter cows and bulls $5-8 stronger, defying the seasonal trend. Low numbers being offered may be the reason.  Yearlingss took a big jump higher this week, up $10.  The calf market began responding to a recovering futures market a few weeks ago but finally the yearlings are catching up. I just wanted to address the heifer-steer price spread this year.  Heifers will always be worth less than steers. This is due to an approximately 15% poorer performance in the feedlot and a much lighter slaughter weight. However, some years are more extreme than others. When grain is high the spread is wider because of the poorer feedlot performance. That has been true the last couple years. What also comes into play is where we are in the cattle cycle. The last few years we have been in a liquidation phase where way fewer heifers have been retained for replacements. During this time we got as low as 85% of steer  price. When we begin the expansion phase of the cycle this can get as high as 93%. It appears as though we are beginning to at least stop the liquidation. I think we can expect better returns for heifer calves going forward, which will add to the significant returns the cow calf producer is seeing. Of all the profit made in the whole cattle business right now the cow calf producer is capturing most of it. This will continue for the next few years and the extra dollars from the heifers will just add to it.
Calf market was stronger this week too, again defying the seasonal