The Cattle Market Guys Podcast
Jul 28, 2026 · 11 min · 10 segments
``` Cattle futures just hit a four-month low, feeder cattle prices are sliding on thin volume, and now USDA drops a bombshell: the US-Mexico border is reopening to cattle trade after more than a year…
Looking at the latest data, 500 to 549 weight steers are trading around $419.18 per hundred weight for the week of July 19th, and that's actually down from $433.62 the week before.
Meanwhile, 600 to 649 weight steers came in at $385.52, also softer than the prior week's $401.50. That's a pretty quick slide for two weeks, Brock.
It is, and the futures are telling the same story.
Front month futures dropped from $352.27 down to $346.93 in that same window.
According to our national forecast, the 500 to 549 weight class is projected to bounce back to around $410 per hundred weight next week, then climbed toward $431.53 by week two.
That's a pretty sharp recovery if the models hold.
Well, models are like weather forecasts out here in West Texas, about right half the time and dead wrong the other half.
Fair point, but the volume context is worth noting too.
We saw average volume through most of July, but back on June 28th, volume was light with only 503 heads sold in that 500 to 549 bracket.
That's a thin market, and thin markets can create some wild price swings on both ends.
There was also a piece from Beef Magazine covering the R-CALF USA convention, where University of Nebraska Lincoln researchers presented on farm-to-wholesale price spreads.
More questions than answers, as the headline says, but it's a conversation producers should keep an eye on, given how packer margins have been scrutinized lately.
Let me tell you what, every time somebody studies that spread, the answer always seems to land the same place, farther from the guy who's out there feeding cattle every morning.
That's the perception, certainly.
Looking at the latest data, 500 to 549 weight steers are trading around $419.18 per hundred weight for the week of July 19th, and that's actually down from $433.62 the week before.
Meanwhile, 600 to 649 weight steers came in at $385.52, also softer than the prior week's $401.50. That's a pretty quick slide for two weeks, Brock.
It is, and the futures are telling the same story.
Front month futures dropped from $352.27 down to $346.93 in that same window.
According to our national forecast, the 500 to 549 weight class is projected to bounce back to around $410 per hundred weight next week, then climbed toward $431.53 by week two.
That's a pretty sharp recovery if the models hold.
Well, models are like weather forecasts out here in West Texas, about right half the time and dead wrong the other half.
Fair point, but the volume context is worth noting too.
We saw average volume through most of July, but back on June 28th, volume was light with only 503 heads sold in that 500 to 549 bracket.
That's a thin market, and thin markets can create some wild price swings on both ends.
There was also a piece from Beef Magazine covering the R-CALF USA convention, where University of Nebraska Lincoln researchers presented on farm-to-wholesale price spreads.
More questions than answers, as the headline says, but it's a conversation producers should keep an eye on, given how packer margins have been scrutinized lately.
Let me tell you what, every time somebody studies that spread, the answer always seems to land the same place, farther from the guy who's out there feeding cattle every morning.
That's the perception, certainly.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
