How to Read NASS Price Reactions After USDA Livestock Reports — Cattle on Feed and Hogs and Pigs

As of 8 November 2026, 00:30 KST (retrieved by this page at that time); latest edition: Price Reactions After USDA Livestock Reports, dated March 2026 on its cover and listed on the USDA ESMIS page as released Mar 11 2026, by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). It counts how cattle and hog prices moved around each Cattle on Feed and Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report in the 2025 marketing year, with annual counts back to 2015. Primary source: https://esmis.nal.usda.gov/sites/default/release-files/795817/prrlan26.txt^[1][2]

Comparison basis: each cell counts increases or decreases in the indicated interval before or after the release week (from the prior week to release week, or from release week to the following week), with the average size of those moves in dollars per hundredweight (cwt.), as printed and rounded by NASS to the cent; the fourth column is this page's subtraction of the averages. The cattle marketing year is the calendar year; the hog marketing year runs from December of the previous year through November.^[1]

In three lines

1. NASS's annual livestock price-reaction report counts weekly price moves around each Cattle on Feed (monthly) and Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report.
2. In the 2025 marketing year, cattle prices rose from the prior week to release week for 6 releases (average $3.53 per cwt.) and fell from release week to the following week for 6 (average $3.17).
3. By this page's count, the cattle table lists 11 releases for 2025, with no October row, and NASS says the moves are not attributed to its reports alone.^[1]

Prices used. "The AMS prices used in this report for cattle and hogs represent sales from producers to first buyers at major markets." The cattle price is limited to live steers and heifers: "Based on the weekly weighted average prices per cwt. for live steers and heifers from feedlots in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Iowa, and Minnesota." The hog price is the Iowa and Southern Minnesota base lean price for slaughter hogs, converted to a live price. Both series come from Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Market News, attributed by NASS.^[1]

Three prices per release. Each row gives the average price in the week prior, the week of release and the week after, and two changes: week prior to week of release, and week of release to week after. A table note says a price change may not equal the difference between the printed averages because of rounding.^[1]

Inventory change column. NASS's footnote reads: "Percent change from previous year at time of each report." For example, the 24 January 2025 Cattle on Feed row shows -0.9 and the 25 September 2025 Hogs and Pigs row shows -1.3.^[1]

Counts that do not reach twelve. "Total increases and decreases may not add to twelve for a year when the week-to-week price does not change." For 2025 the cattle counts add to 11 in each column, and the monthly table has 11 rows with no October 2025 release; the report does not explain the missing month.^[1]

Overview definition vs table columns. "The price reaction to the Cattle on Feed and Quarterly Hogs and Pigs reports is indicated by the difference between the price the week prior and the week after each report." The tables, however, split the move into week prior to week of release and week of release to week after, and the annual tables label these "week prior to release" and "week after release". The 2025 counts and published averages are consistent with recalculation from the displayed monthly and quarterly rows, rounded to cents (for example, raw values of $3.165 and $1.795 appear as $3.17 and $1.80; this page's calculation), so the annual columns are the two split changes, not the single week-prior-to-week-after difference in the overview.^[1]

One release, two directions. For the 21 November 2025 Cattle on Feed report, the price fell $7.38 into release week and $6.27 the week after; from week prior to week after it fell $13.65 (this page's calculation). For 24 January 2025 the two moves were +$5.56 and +$0.37, or $5.93 over the two weeks.^[1]

Hog marketing year boundary. The 2025 hog marketing year covers the 23 December 2024 report and the March, June and September 2025 reports, which together reproduce the printed 2025 counts. The 23 December 2025 report (-$1.34 before, +$0.63 after) is printed in the quarterly table but falls in the 2026 marketing year by NASS's definition (this page's reading of the bracketed note).^[1]

Page description vs this edition. "This annual report contains price reactions to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Cattle on Feed, Quarterly Hogs and Pigs, and Milk Production reports." The March 2026 text file covers cattle and hogs only and has no milk, butter or cheddar tables, as printed.^[2]

What the counts do not show. "This report does not imply that NASS reports are solely responsible for changes to the price level for commodities referenced in the publication." "The price level for any commodity can potentially be affected by other information available to the market at that time but ultimately is determined by supply and demand."^[2]

Related report. "The USDA Cattle on Feed report is released monthly and publishes on-feed inventory, fed cattle marketings, and feeder cattle placements." The crop counterpart, Price Reactions After USDA Crop Reports, is covered in a separate GlowWiki page.^[1]

Next edition. The ESMIS page gives the frequency as annually and lists releases in March of each year from 2004 to 2026; the date of the next edition is not established by these sources, and the cited pages show no revision of the 2025 figures.^[2]