A 61-year herd population low and market factors are buoying cattle prices in the U.S. unabatedly early December 2024.
Cattle charts show that virtually all ranching states from the Dakotas to Texas have recorded a monthly price strength.
In the Dakotas, 700- to 800-Ib steers (castrated oxen) sold at $283.82 per hundredweight, $10 more than on November 11, 2024.
A similar scenario informed Texas’ $253.98 a hundredweight on 6th of December versus $48.74 on 11th November.
Iowa also saw its feeder steers scale up from $264.08 per hundredweight on November 11 to $277.91 on December 6.
The highest recorded rise during this period was in Nebraska, from $270.10 a hundredweight to $283.33.
Calves and Steers Climb the Range
Not to be left out in the cold, calves have also shown a similar valuation strength as their numbers curve downward.
Before December 5, prices of 400- to 500-pound weaners rose by $30 per hundredweight in Southern ranches.
The same is true of mid-weight 500-600 pound feeder steers, which gained by $20 to the hundredweight.
This is even as filling up feeders in the 700- to 800-pound weight range added $80 to the hundredweight. This is why by the week ending December 9, such steers were selling at $273.19 in the Dakotas.
Rain and Mexico
Besides long-term supply pressure, cattle prices in the U.S. are under the impact of recent rains and Mexican import ban.
The return of winter rains has motivated many ranchers to hold back and take advantage of the regenerating pastures.
Also factoring in is the ban to import cattle from neighboring Mexico over the New World screwworm outbreak. This late November 2024 incident is also hampering market supplies.
In a word, the price surge of American live cattle spilled over into end 2024. A compounding factor is a ban on Mexico, which supplies most of the 1.03 million head of feeder cattle that the U.S. imports annually. To learn more about live cattle pricing history in the U.S., read on the statistics below.
Statistics on Cattle Prices in the U.S.
American live cattle prices, accessible through wholesale rates at stock yards, have had a steady improvement in recent history. They moved fom a yearly average of $78.50 per hundredweight in the early 1990s to the double digits in the 2020s. By December 10, 2024, cattle prices on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) were at $141.975 per hundredweight. For comparison purposes, below is a pricing listing from 1992 to 2022 for Iowa and Minnesota, courtesy of Iowa State University.
1992: price averages $78.50 per hundredweight.
1998: after a consistent annual fall, the price reaches its lowest in the 1990s at $61.78 per hundredweight.
2007: the price surpasses the 90-dollar mark for the first time since 1990 at $91.88 per hundredweight.
2011: the range reaches a point of no return at $115.47 per hundredweight and never recovers until 2020.
2020: the selling value retracts to $108.51 per hundredweight.
2023: the price reaches its highest level since 1990 at $176.58 per hundredweight.