Derrell S. Peel, Oklahoma State University
Oklahoma combined feeder auction prices spiked to record levels the week after Thanksgiving, especially for the lightweight calves and stockers. The price of 500-pound, Med/Large, No. 1 steers was $360.99/cwt., a new record price. Lightweight feeder prices dropped back the second week of December with the 500-pound steers posting the third highest weekly price of the year of $342.57/cwt. just slightly below the spring price peak of $349.43/cwt. in March. The bigger feeder cattle prices have continued to grind higher. The price of 800-pound Med/Large, No. 1 steers in Oklahoma was $260.58/cwt. in mid-December, pennies higher than the previous record weekly price at the end of June.
The red-hot feeder cattle market in December has prompted strong feeder cattle sales to end the year. At the end of August, year to date Oklahoma feeder cattle auction volumes were down over 102,000 head from last year, a decrease of 12.5 percent year over year. However, dry conditions prompted more feeder sales with year over year larger weekly volumes for nine consecutive weeks in September and October. By the beginning of November, year to date feeder auctions totals were down just over 50,000 head year over year, 5.0 percent less than one year earlier.
Auction volumes dropped ahead of Thanksgiving, dropping the year to date decrease back over 74,000 head in two weeks. However, large volumes in the last two weeks of November and the first half of December has brought the year to date decrease down to just over 36,000 head, a scant 3.1 percent down from last year. The Oklahoma weekly feeder volume for the second week of December was 47,448 head, the largest weekly volume in several years. With just one week of auction sales remaining for the year, the Oklahoma combined feeder auction total for 2024 is 1.14 million head compared to 1.18 million head last year.
Although the total feeder auction volume has decreased relatively little this year compared to last, there is one change that could be significant. Figure 1 shows the reported heifer percentage of Oklahoma weekly feeder auction volume from 2022-2024.
Since the middle of the year, the percentage of heifers in the weekly volume has decreased significantly compared to the past two years. The average weekly heifer percentage since July has been 38.7 percent compared to 43.1 percent in the first half of the year. The average for the entire year in 2023 was 42.6 percent and in 2022 was 41.7 percent. This may be an indication that Oklahoma producers are holding back a few heifers in late 2024. The data is not definitive but could be an early indication of some heifer retention, at least in Oklahoma.
