🐄 Cattle Price Hub

Texas Feeder Cattle · Historical Pricing & Predictions
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If you've ever wished you had a better feel for what cattle are actually bringing before you load the trailer, you're in the right place! Cattle Price Hub pulls real auction results straight from USDA market reports across several certified Texas ring auctions, giving you a clear picture of recent prices by weight, class, and market. Think of it as having a well-connected rancher buddy who follows every sale and does the math for you. Updated every weekday, so the numbers you're looking at reflect what actually sold and help keep you informed on how the market is trending.

Feeder Cattle — Weekly Avg Price

$/cwt across all TX auction markets

Weekly Head Count

Total head reported across TX markets

Latest Data Available by Market

Most recent auction date recorded in each market
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Texas Auction Market Locations

Hover a marker for auction details

Feeder Cattle — Price Trend

Weekly avg $/cwt · all TX markets

Replacement Cattle — Price Trend

Weekly avg $/head · bred cows & heifers

Slaughter Cattle — Price Trend

Weekly avg $/cwt · cows & bulls

Steers vs Heifers — Price Spread

Premium steers carry over heifers ($/cwt)

Market Price Trends

Weekly avg Feeder Cattle price per market

Market Volume Trends

Weekly head count per market

USDA Official Market Reports

View weighted average reports directly on USDA MyMarketNews
Physical Ring Auctions
Online Auctions

Feeder Steers — Price by Weight Bracket

100-lb buckets · $/cwt over time

Feeder Heifers — Price by Weight Bracket

100-lb buckets · $/cwt over time

Steers — Latest Week Snapshot

$/cwt by bracket · most recent week

Heifers — Latest Week Snapshot

$/cwt by bracket · most recent week

Head Sold by Weight Bracket — Latest Week

Total steers + heifers combined · all Texas markets

Auction Detail — Recent Records

Date Market Commodity Class Weight Avg $/cwt Avg Wt Head

📋 About This Data — What It Shows & Where It Comes From

This dashboard pulls structured price data directly from the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) MARS API. Understanding how that data is collected, structured, and aggregated will help you interpret the numbers accurately.

🏛️ Data Source

All market data originates from the USDA AMS Market News Division and is accessed via the MARS API (marsapi.ams.usda.gov). Data is fetched automatically each weekday evening and stored in Supabase for fast dashboard access.

Texas auction markets tracked:

  • Producers Livestock Auction — San Angelo, TX
  • Texas Cattle Exchange — Dalhart, TX
  • Tulia Livestock Auction — Tulia, TX
  • Wildorado Livestock Auction — Wildorado, TX
  • Giddings Livestock Commission — Giddings, TX

These markets were selected because they represent significant regional trading hubs and consistently produce enough volume to serve as reliable price benchmarks. USDA reporting operates under Voluntary Price Reporting authority — auction markets choose whether to participate, and USDA must assign a trained federal market reporter to physically attend each sale.

⚙️ How the USDA MARS API Structures Its Data

The MARS API is designed for price discovery — helping buyers and sellers understand what cattle of a given type and weight sold for. It organizes data by:

  • Commodity — Feeder Cattle, Slaughter Cattle, or Replacement Cattle
  • Class — Steers, Heifers, Bulls, Cows, Bred Cows, etc.
  • Weight bracket — 100-lb buckets (e.g., 400–499 lbs)
  • Frame grade — Primarily Medium and Large 1 (M&L1), the predominant commercial grade

Key limitation: The API focuses on M&L1 frame cattle. Lower frame grades are present in the auction PDF but are not always included as separate API rows. This means API head counts will generally be lower than the PDF's "Total Receipts" figure.

📄 Why Dashboard Numbers May Differ from the USDA PDF Reports

1. Frame grade filtering — The API primarily returns M&L1 rows. M&L 1-2 cattle run through the same ring but are not consistently represented in the API's machine-readable rows.

2. Unsold & passed cattle — The PDF "Total Receipts" includes cattle that were passed (did not reach the minimum bid) or withdrawn before sale. Since these have no transaction price, the API has nothing to record.

3. Commodity filter — The Market Comparison tab filters to one commodity at a time, so head counts reflect only the selected category, not all cattle at the auction.

Example — San Angelo, April 2026: The PDF reports "Total Receipts: 373" (307 Feeder + 62 Slaughter + 4 Replacement). The MARS API returns ~305 head across all commodities. All three figures are technically correct — they simply count different things.

✅ What This Dashboard Shows

  • M&L1 frame cattle only
  • Sold cattle with recorded prices
  • One commodity at a time (Market Comparison)
  • Weighted average prices by bracket

📋 What the PDF "Total Receipts" Shows

  • All frame grades (M&L1, M&L 1-2, Small, etc.)
  • Sold, unsold, and passed cattle
  • All commodities combined in one total
  • Lot-level detail and narrative notes

💲 How Prices Are Calculated

All price figures are weighted average prices — each lot's price is weighted by its head count before averaging. A lot of 30 steers carries more weight in the average than a lot of 3 steers. This is the same methodology USDA uses in the PDF reports.

Prices are expressed as $/cwt (dollars per hundredweight) for Feeder and Slaughter Cattle, and as $/head for Replacement Cattle. Weekly averages group all auction dates within the same Monday-through-Sunday week.

✅ What This Dashboard Is Reliable For

Despite the limitations above, this data is highly reliable for its primary purpose — tracking price trends and market comparisons over time. Because the same subset of cattle is captured consistently week after week, the trend lines accurately reflect how prices are moving. Use this for:

  • Monitoring week-over-week price direction for feeder, slaughter, and replacement cattle
  • Comparing price levels across different Texas auction markets
  • Identifying which weight brackets are trading at a premium or discount
  • Understanding seasonal price patterns and year-over-year comparisons
  • Tracking the steer-heifer price spread over time

📊 Sale Economics

3-month average market prices + transport costs + commission to estimate net return per market
Deducted as a % of gross sales price
Full truck rate per mile ÷ head count = haul per head
or
No location set — haul costs will show "—"
Calculates round-trip driving miles from your ranch to each market