Cattle and beef markets rocketed out of the gate coming into 2025. With no post-holiday wavering, all cattle and beef markets moved higher in the first half of January – setting new record price levels to start the new year. This continues the trend of the last three years. Cattle prices began to move higher after 2021 and increased more sharply in 2023-2024.
In Oklahoma auctions in the week ending Jan. 17, 2025, the price of 500-pound steers (M/L, #1) was $361.88/cwt., up 18.1% year over year and up 111.1% from the same week four years ago in 2021. For 800-pound steers, the price was $269.07/cwt., up 21.0 percent year over year and up 105.1 percent in the last four years. The U.S. calf crop peaked cyclically in 2018 at 36.3 million head and decreased for the last six years to a projected 33.1 million head in 2024.
Fig. 1 shows the average volume of stocker and feeder receipts including the general downtrend since the recent peak in early 2019 and indicates a continued tightening of cattle numbers.
By Derrell Peel
January 28, 2025
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