Ottawa Livestock Exchange owner Steve Spratt
Nelson Zandbergen
Farmers Forum
OTTAWA — The historic surge in cattle prices may finally be easing just a bit. While livestock markets have reached historic highs over recent seasons, auction operators and local farmers report that values are beginning to level off or pull back modestly.
At the Ottawa Livestock Exchange, owner and auctioneer Steve Spratt said that prices have plateaued somewhat, though specific classes still see weekly highs. “They’re kind of levelled off a little bit, but I mean, on any given day, we get a higher price than we got the week before,” Spratt said on Aug. 17.
Prices remain mighty strong. He contrasted the recent average per-pound price of a cow, at about $2.18, with past averages of 75-to-80 cents only three or four years ago.
Spratt highlighted the financial exposure for producers buying stocker cattle at $5 to $6 per pound for a 500-pound calf, noting it represents a “bigger risk for those guys that are feeding right now” if markets drop. High live prices are also impacting retail sales, he suggested, recounting a recent trip to an independent grocer where steaks sat unsold. “That’s a sign meat’s not moving… the way it should.”
While select 1,800-pound bulls have commanded over $3 lb. and top beef-cross calves hit $9-to-$11 lb., Spratt noted that cow values were unchanged for the previous 5 or 6 weeks.
Operating the auction itself requires unprecedented capital, as the operation pays out sellers on the day of sale while reimbursement from the buyer can take up to 7 days. Spratt noted that a single trailer load of cows now easily tops $100,000.
Local producers echoed the view that the market is experiencing a slight correction. Eric Van Den Broek, a Winchester-area dairy farmer who raises beef-cross stock as a side hustle, noted that top-tier black calves peaked in mid-July.
“Yeah, I would be more in that camp where I’d say there needed to be almost a little bit of a market correction,” he told Farmers Forum.
While peak-finished beef cows previously hit $2.50 to $2.60 per pound live weight, he estimated rail prices recently dropped by about 10 cents. Dairy cull cows, however, continue to regularly fetch $2.20 to $2.40 per pound.
Osgoode-area dairy and beef farmer Steven Velthuis noted that current prices remain vital for cash flow given severe inflation on diesel, machinery, and equipment. He suggested that cattle prices have been “pulling back a little bit,” though he believes tight national herd inventories and meat plant closures in the United States will keep overall prices strong for years. Seeing a Holstein bull calf fetch $1,400 on the auction block is still a “mind-numbing” experience, he conceded, compared to the $100 to $200 that was the norm several years ago.
Other area farmers agree that the market remains lucrative despite minor pullbacks. Winchester dairy farmer Robert Velthuis (Steven’s nephew) remarked: “It’s turned a little cheaper, but it’s still good, so nobody’s complaining. Black calves are a little less money but cull cows are still good.”
Tanglin Holsteins partner Levi Coote, in Frankville, noted that prices remain strong relative to pre-pandemic levels. “The price is a little steep, but it’s where it should be,” Coote remarked. “Before COVID, we got nothing (for bull calves but now) we sent one to the sale barn and got $2,000.”
Coote acknowledged the rising input costs facing feedlot operators who purchase high-value young stock. “It’s crazy to see how people buy that $2,000 calf but by the time you get them up to weight … Everything costs a lot more. But it’s starting to come down, but not drastically. If you get $1,700 or $1,800 it’s still good.”
Farm Credit Canada senior economist Leigh Anderson observed in April that the national herd was showing signs of growth, with beef replacement heifers up 4.8 % as of January 1, 2026, according to StatCan. That’s a significant enough bump to potentially shift some marginal crop acres back into forages to feed cattle, according to Anderson’s analysis. Time will tell if it’s the first stirrings of a market correction and the beginning of the end of the national herd’s “liquidation phase.”
