Understanding Cattle Market Reports
I had two experiences in recent weeks that helped lead to this column. I hope the information
presented will be helpful to the reader.
The first experience came from a friendly couple who were confused and somewhat upset at an
experience they had as new Cache County farmers. Having recently acquired some fenced
acreage, they decided to attend a local livestock auction to purchase a steer. Their intent was
to raise the steer on grass and then harvest him in the fall, thus providing meat for their family.
They reported having been intrigued with the methodical movement of animals through the
auction ring, though they had some difficulty understanding the rapid chant of the auctioneer.
After intently listening to the auctioneer for a period of time, they felt confident that they
understood the price the animal was offered for. As such, they selected a fine looking steer and
bought him for $146.00. Being pleased with their purchase they reported to the office to pay
the $146.00 and to make arrangements for their steer to be delivered to their home place.
At the office they said a “really nice lady” prepared the necessary paperwork and asked for
$949.00. They were confused at the request and reported they purchased the animal for
$146.00. At that point the “really nice lady” explained that the steer weighed 650 pounds and
that $146 was cost per hundredweight (cwt). My newly found friends did not have the
necessary funds so the steer was sold again (twice in one day) and my new rancher friends had
to pay the net difference.
The second experience came from an experienced cattleman. He said, “We read the market
reports every week, but don’t understand the difference between a breaker and a boner, a
cutter and a canner, leans and lights and furthermore, what is a heiferette?” He asked that I
give a description of these categories in my next newspaper column, so here goes.
USDA Agricultural Marketing Service uses eight quality grades to predict carcass value. Prime,
Choice, Select and Standard are grades for younger cattle. Grades for mature cattle (over 42
months) are Commercial, Utility, Cutter and Canner.
Commercial cows are also referred to as Breakers. These are usually younger cows, are roughly
70 to 80% lean, have dressing percents of 55 to 60, with a Body Condition Score (BCS) of 5 to 8.
Breaker cows can be fabricated into whole muscle cuts which have a higher value than
trimmings that are used for further processing. It is not uncommon for many of this group of
cows to come from dairy herds that are fed high concentrate diets.
Utility cows, sometimes called Boning cows, are about 80 to 85% lean, dress out at 50 to 55%
and have a BCS from 4 to 6. These cows are boned by the meat industry and used for both
wholesale cuts and for further processing. They are usually older than the Breaker cows.
Cutter cows are thin and very lightly muscled, roughly 85 to 90% lean, with a BCS of 3 to 5. They
have a low dressing percentage of 45 to 50% and are usually processed as ground beef. Canner
cows are even thinner and less muscled with a BSC of 1 or 2. They are reported as 90 to 95%
lean and have dressing percentages below 45%. Cutter and Canner cows are sometimes
referred to as Leans and Lights. Some markets report Lights as Feeding Cows, meaning they
could go into feedlots for weight gain before being harvested.
Heiferette is a word used to describe a female bovine that is not a heifer (under 30 months) and
not a cow that has raised at least one calf. Each market report may consider a heiferette to be
somewhat different. Some may consider females between 30 and 42 months of age to be
heiferettes. Others report heiferettes as first calf heifers without a calf at her side.