Cattle Prices: A Look Back…and a Look Ahead

Derrell S. Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist

 

Cattle prices advanced for a third consecutive year in 2025.  Prices for all classes of cattle moved higher, setting frequent records for most of the first three quarters of the year before experiencing a sharp correction in the fourth quarter.  Cattle prices recovered in December to end the year and set the stage for markets in 2026.  Table 1 summarizes 2025 prices for calves, feeders, fed cattle and cull cows.

 

Oklahoma auction prices for 500-pound steer calves picked up from year-end highs in 2024 and increased even more sharply in 2025.  Prices started the year at $353.45/cwt. and ended at $480.48/cwt., a 35.9 percent increase for the year.  By the end of December, these calf prices had fully recovered from the fourth quarter correction, when prices that were at $479.89/cwt. by mid-October dropped to $413.71/cwt. at the end of November, a 13.7 percent drop, before recovering to a new high in December. 

 

 

Prices for 800-pound feeder steers at Oklahoma auctions began 2025 at $267.91/cwt. and ended with a December price of $349.89/cwt., a net increase of 30.6 percent for the year.  Feeder prices peaked earlier in mid-October at $382.93/cwt., dropping to a late November low of $315.97/cwt. before partially recovering in December.  The correction from October through November was 17.5 percent and the recovery in December left prices down 8.6 percent from the October high.     

 

Fed cattle price started 2025 at $198.93/cwt., peaked at $244.25/cwt in August and ended the year at $228.79/cwt., a net increase of 15.0 percent for the year.  The 5-market price drifted slightly lower from the summer peak through the third quarter before correcting down to $211.53/cwt. in late November.  The fourth quarter correction was a drop by 13.4 percent to the November low.  Fed prices then recovered to finish the year and, by the end of the year, fed prices were down 6.3 percent from the August peak.

 

Cull cow prices rose from $120.57/cwt in January to a late August peak of $169.41/cwt before finishing the year at $156.39/cwt.  From the beginning to the end of the year, cull cow prices increased 29.7 percent.  Cull cow prices were also subject to the fourth quarter correction, dropping to a late November low of $147.17 before recovering in December.  Prices dropped 13.1 percent from the summer high to late November but by the end of the year were down just 7.7 percent from the August peak.

 

What to Expect in 2026

1. Higher Feeder and Fed Cattle Prices
   Seven years of declining calf crops, culminating in the 2025 calf crop at the lowest level since 1941, and limited signs of heifer retention mean the feeder cattle supplies will be tighter going into 2026 and may tighten even more during the year if heifer retention picks up.
2. Prices Advancing More Slowly
   Feeder and fed cattle prices, though expected to increase, are likely to increase relatively less in 2026 compared to 2025.  In 2025, feeder cattle prices increased roughly 25-35 percent while fed cattle prices increased 15-20 percent.  Both feeder and fed prices are likely to see prices increase in the range of 5-15 percent in 2026.
3. Continued Volatility
   Unfortunately, volatility is likely to continue to be a risk for cattle producers.  The big fourth quarter 2025 correction should remove the tendency for a market or technical correction for quite some time, but external sources of uncertainty are likely to continue injecting volatility into cattle markets going forward.  With cattle and beef markets continuing to be a focus of political scrutiny, markets are subject to additional political rhetoric and meddling.

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Your Next Generation of Cows, Build Back Better – Replacement Heifer Series - Article 8

Mark Z. Johnson, Oklahoma State University Extension Beef Cattle Breeding Specialist

 

The opportunity to make our next generation of cows a better fit to our production system and genetically capable of creating more profit potential is historically unprecedented. More tools are available to assist cattle breeders in this quest than ever before. The series of “Build Back Better” articles over the past two months have been written to target the cow-calf producers who are motivated by sustainable profit. Regardless of the size of your operation, a deep dive into the unique characteristics of your own production system is important to inform selection and mating decisions. Identifying breeding goals as well as prudent selection and mating decisions can result in a cowherd that yields more beef per acre of pasture, reduces your maintenance cost and serves as the production factory of market topping calves.

 

Consider the current performance metrics of your cowherd. Quantifiable measurements should be used to assess the efficiency of your business. And, measuring current levels of cowherd productivity helps identify where genetic improvement is needed. Collect, calculate and evaluate the following:

• What is the average weight of your 4 to 7 year old cows?
• What is the average weight of your weaned calves?
• Are calf birth dates clustered in the early part of the calving season or more widely spread out?
• What is your Percent Crop Weaned?
• On a whole herd basis, what percentage of their mature weight are your cows weaning off?
• What is the length of your calving season?

 

Guidance for calculating these performance metrics is available in Chapter 4 of the Eight Edition of the Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension Beef Cattle Manual.

 

While this has been addressed from a standpoint of genetics and animal breeding, it is also important to consider other components of your production system over which you have management control. For example:

• If you have put selection pressure on post-weaning growth and carcass traits over the long-term and sell your calves at weaning, are you documenting the calves genetic potential to grow, grade and yield for the next owner? Is it economically feasible for you to retain ownership of your calves? Are you capturing the full value of your investment in the genetic potential you have created?
• If you have a sound vaccination protocol and typically background weaned calves for at least 45 days prior to selling, have you documented these management practices to the fullest extent possible to capture the full value of your good management?

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Carbon Footprint of Beef and Beef × Dairy Steers Depends on Production System

Paul Beck, OSU Cooperative Extension Beef Cattle Nutrition Specialist

 

Beef × dairy crossbred cattle are an important source of feeder cattle for the U.S. beef industry, but questions remain about how this system affects greenhouse gas emissions and the overall carbon footprint of beef production. Recent research by Matthew Beck and colleagues in the Journal of Animal Science evaluated the carbon footprint of beef and beef × dairy steers grown under two common systems — yearling-fed , where calves are grown on pasture in a stocker program prior to finishing or calf-fed, where calves are placed on feed without a pre-finishing growing program.

 

This study estimated greenhouse gas emissions during the growing and finishing phases of production using data from the OSU Klemme Range Research Station near Bessie, Oklahoma and Buffalo Feeders LLC, a commercial feedlot operations in Buffalo, Oklahoma.

 

Results showed that yearling-fed steers which underwent a stocker phase on pasture had a higher carbon footprint than calf-fed steers. Yearling-fed steers had a greater carbon footprint than calf-fed steers (4.6% and 11.3% greater for the beef × dairy and 11.3% greater for beef yearlings compared with calf-feds). The increase was largely due to higher methane and nitrous oxide emissions associated with grazing systems.

 

When only the growing and finishing phases were considered, beef × dairy crossbred steers also had a higher carbon footprint than beef steers. Compared with beef steers, beef × dairy steers produced 11.7% greater carbon footprint when calf-fed and 3.8% greater when yearling-fed. These differences reflect variations in intake, growth performance, and efficiency between cattle types.

 

The current results support our hypothesis, that beef × dairy steers have a greater carbon footprint compared to beef steers when only GHG emissions from growing through slaughter are considered. When emissions from the dam are included, the conclusions change. Because the dairy cow’s primary product is milk for human consumption, beef × dairy steer production systems are predicted to have a lower overall carbon footprint than beef steer production systems because only a portion of the dairy cow’s lifetime emissions are assigned to beef production, while all emissions from a beef cow are attributed solely to beef.

 

These findings highlight that production system and how emissions are accounted for  strongly influence sustainability conclusions. Future research that more completely accounts for dam emissions will be critical for accurately evaluating their environmental footprint.

This work was supported in part by the intramural research program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture Critical Agricultural Research and Extension (CARES) Award No. 2022-68008-37102.