Cattle Backlog Impacting Market

The backlog of cattle in Western Canada is gradually depleting.

 

Brian Perillat is Manager and Senor Analyst with Canfax.

 

"As good as the processing rates have been, I guess we're still seeing a bit of a backlog impact the market," he said. "The fed cattle market has been completely flat...Typically this time of year we start to see a little bit of price improvement but two or three weeks ago we had record large carcass weights. There's a lot of big steers and heifers out there that have to get processed and that's kind of weighing on the market."

 

Perillat notes calf markets have been struggling as of late.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.