08/17/2025
I thought I'd share this with you. We spend a lot of time watching the markets and projections. In a bull market, feeder and live prices hitting never seen before highs, we have to decide how many replacement heifers to keep...or sell. Cull cattle prices are also at an all time high. Our decisions on what to sell and how many to keep back, shapes the size of the US cattle herd for years to come. Data shows herd rebuilding has not started. The cattleman are cashing in on the current high prices, rather than rebuilding their herds. Available beef supply will remain tight and prices will continue to rise.
U.S. CATTLE REPORT 🐄📈 WASDE Jumps 2026 Steer Price Estimate by $15 in Ongoing Bull Run Since 2020 🐄📈
USDA’s August WASDE report raised its 2025 steer price projection to $227.06/cwt, up $5.75 from the July forecast of $221.31. That puts 2025 prices $39.94 higher than 2024’s projected average of $187.12, a 21.3% year-over-year increase.
For 2026, USDA made a much larger adjustment, boosting the projection from $229.00 in July to $244.00 in August — a $15.00 jump in just one month. Compared to the new 2025 estimate, that’s an increase of $16.94, or 7.46%, and it’s $56.88 higher than 2024’s average, marking a 25.8% gain over 2024 levels.
Annual Steer Prices
2026 – $244.00 (p)
2025 – $227.06 (p)
2024 – $187.12
2023 – $173.00
2022 – $142.00
2021 – $121.00
2020 – $109.00
2019 – $116.00
2018 – $116.00
2017 – $120.00
2016 – $120.00
2015 – $148.00
🐄📈 Steer Prices on a Record Bull Run Since 2020 🐄
Steer prices in this series (see chart) began at $59.00/cwt in 1996 and saw gradual gains over the next two decades, with periods of both growth and pullback. After peaking above $150 in 2014, prices slid into the mid-$100s before hitting a low of $109.00 in 2020. Since that 2020 bottom, the market has entered the steepest and most sustained bull run in its recorded history, advancing every single year. Prices rose to $121.00 in 2021, jumped to $142.00 in 2022, climbed to $173.00 in 2023, and reached $187.12 in 2024. USDA’s August WASDE projections push that rally further, forecasting $227.06 for 2025 and $244.00 for 2026 — a 124% increase from the 2020 low in just six years, with each year setting a new high over the previous one.
U.S. CATTLE REPORT: https://www.nationalbeefwire.com/u-s-cattle-report (make sure to bookmark)....
Corbitt Wall American Angus Association DTN/The Progressive Farmer Progressive Cattle Magazine DTN/The Progressive Farmer BEEF Magazine OKC West Livestock Market LLC The Cattle Range The Cattle Business Weekly CattleFax American Cattlemen RFD-TV Tri-State Livestock News Kansas Cattlemen's Association Kansas Ag Network
