Slaughter cow prices drop off

Icy road conditions likely played a factor in the drop in cattle moving through Auction Marts last week.

Canfax reporting 31,782 feeder cattle sold in Saskatchewan where feeder steers and heifer prices were mostly down across all weight categories

Provincial Cattle Specialist Fonda Froats says calf prices peaked in the last couple of weeks and now we're into that typical seasonal decline:

"Keep in mind that pricing is still between $38 and up to $73 cwt above last year, and that's across all weight categories for steers and heifers. In addition to that seasonal decline, other factors are maybe the price of feed and also trucking feed. And we're still seeing a backlog of fed cattle in the system."

Feeder steers prices ranged from $334.33 cwt for the 300-400 pound weight category to $219.67 cwt for the 900+ pound category.  

Feeder heifers ranged from $248.39 cwt for the 300-400 pound weight category to $207.25 per cwt for the 800+lb weight category.