Saskatchewan Auction Marts saw an increase in the number of animals moving through the sales ring with 13,458 head sold for the week ending March 4.
Lexi Hicks-Macza with the Ministry of Agriculture's Livestock Development Unit says while the number of cattle were up, the majority of feeder steer and heifer prices dropped off.
"Feeder steer prices were mostly down across the reported weight categories for the week. Prices ranged from $251.30 per cwt for the 300-400lb weight category to $180.23 per cwt for the 900+lb weight category. The only price increase was seen in the 400-500lb weight category with an increase of $1.21 per cwt to average $247.00 per cwt for the week. The largest price decrease was seen in the 300-400lb weight category with a price decrease of $7.03 per cwt to average the week at $251.30. The average weekly prices for Saskatchewan’s feeder heifer prices were down across all the reported weight categories. Prices ranged from $205.25 per cwt for the 300-400lb weight category to $166.25 per cwt for the 800+lb weight category. The smallest price decrease reported was seen in the 700-800lb feeder heifer weight category with a decrease of $2.35 per cwt to average $173.40 per cwt for the week. The largest price decrease over the week was seen in the 600-700lb weight category with a price decrease of $6.66 per cwt to finish the week averaging $180.92 per cwt."
She says a number of events are impacting the markets right now from the increase in grain prices, to the domestic transportation challenges, fuel spikes and international events.
According to the report, the price of D2 slaughter cows increased $3.42 for an average $90.92 cwt, while the D3's averaged out at $78.90 cwt.
The rail price for non-fed cattle in Alberta saw an increase of $5.00 on both ends of the rail compared to February 25th to finish out the week with a rail price of $175.00-$180.00 per cwt.
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