With the Canada Day long weekend and the summer schedule, only three of Manitoba’s eight cattle auctions were open during the week ended July 4.
One of those was Winnipeg Livestock Sales with its bi-weekly auction on June 28, in which 185 head went through the rings. Only 30 were feeders, though it attracted cattle that would normally have gone to other auctions if they had been open.
“It’s that time of year,” said field representative Scott Anderson about the small number sold. “A lot of that had to do with going into a shortened kill week with Canada Day. I think most plants would have been typically working on four days instead of five days.”
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Manitoba cattle prices, Nov. 4
Manitoba cattle sale prices for the week of Oct. 28 to Nov. 4, 2025.
Anderson said butcher cows were down $5 to $7 per hundredweight on June 28, while bulls fetched $220 to $228/cwt.
While “nobody is really trying to buy aggressively” right now, he said prices were fully steady, which he considered good, given news from cattle auctions in the United States.
“I read commentaries from the U.S. that cattle markets in South Dakota and Kansas had record highs at some of their feeder sales.”
DTN Progressive Farmer reported prices for mid-weight feeder cattle were US$17 to $35 per cwt higher than a year ago. Other reports said prices in Kansas were up more than 90 per cent from two years ago.
On another note, Anderson said labour disputes at Cargill’s plants in Guelph and Calgary had some effect on cattle in Manitoba.
“I know there’s been a lot of fat cattle going right by our door going west,” he said about the Cargill Dunlop plant in Guelph being picketed.
That dispute might be resolved. On July 2, officials from Cargill and the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 175 reached a tentative agreement. Members were slated to vote on the new deal July 5, with the results announced the next day.
As for Cargill’s Calgary plant, workers there had information meetings on July 2 and 4 regarding a new deal, with a ratification voted scheduled July 8. UFCW Local 401 recommended its members vote for the latest agreement rather than hit the picket lines.
In looking toward Manitoba’s fall run, Anderson said there likely won’t be as many cattle coming to auction as there were last year.
“It’s looking like there’s going to be lots of hay around and probably an extended pasture season. Guys aren’t going to be pulling the feeders off in August or early September … because they’re going to be taking advantage in getting all the pounds on the cows as much as they can.”
