Ranch Arcade · Market timer
Sell Day
Your 200 steers are fat and ready. The cash market starts at $1.84 per pound. Every week you wait, they gain weight and the feed bill climbs. The chart is real USDA fed-cattle data. The tension is whether you will take the check before the market rolls over.
Starting lot
200 steers
1,250 lbs, break-even $1.74.
Real window
12 weekly turns
Fall 2023 USDA cash cattle with real feedlot performance assumptions.
The room
"Boss, these steers are getting heavy. Dock risk is going up."
"Feed bill is adding up. Just want to make sure you have got a plan."
"Packers are full through the 15th. Could see pressure."
"Did you sell yet?"
Source notes
USDA price series: USDA National Weekly Fed Cattle Comprehensive, using the Beef Type Live total all grades average price series.
Feedlot cost of gain: Kansas State Focus on Feedlots October 2024 closeout: projected steer cost of gain about $104/cwt, which calibrates to roughly $3.38/head/day at 3.25 lb/day gain.
Finishing performance: Oklahoma State finishing guidance uses a 3.25 lb/day example steer and notes that adapted finishing cattle commonly gain 2.5 to 4.0 lb/day.