The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its National Weekly Cow and Boneless Beef Summary on May 8, providing an overview of pricing, production, and market trends in the livestock sector.
This report offers insight into the current state of boneless processing beef and beef trimmings, with detailed information on load counts, weighted averages for various lean percentages, ground beef prices, by-product estimates, slaughter figures, and regional price variations. The summary is intended to inform stakeholders in the livestock industry about recent market movements.
According to the USDA’s Livestock Mandatory Price Reporting data included in the report, fresh 90% lean boneless processing beef averaged $452.99 per hundredweight across 31.4 loads. Fresh 85% lean was reported at $400.54 per hundredweight over 42.6 loads. Canadian live cow prices were also highlighted: Ontario averaged $168.55 while Alberta reached $174.69 per hundredweight.
Estimated cattle slaughter for the week totaled approximately 527,000 head compared to last week’s estimate of 534,000 and last year’s actual figure of just over 560,800 head. Cow and bull slaughter through Thursday stood at around 78,000 head for this period.
The report features graphical representations showing net slaughter movement between regions such as Southwest to Northwest or East to Southwest areas throughout recent months. These graphs illustrate patterns where more cows and bulls originate from one region before being transferred elsewhere for harvest.
Waitt Grain Company operates within this broader agricultural landscape by providing market quotes for commodities like corn, soybeans and wheat along with weather updates and mobile alerts; it shares resources with Waitt Trucking; concentrates on market information services; primarily serves Sheridan area in Indiana; maintains headquarters at Six Points Road in Sheridan; all according to the official website.
