Icy road conditions likely played a factor in the drop in cattle moving through Auction Marts last week.

Canfax reporting 31,782 feeder cattle sold in Saskatchewan where feeder steers and heifer prices were mostly down across all weight categories

Provincial Cattle Specialist Fonda Froats says calf prices peaked in the last couple of weeks and now we're into that typical seasonal decline:

"Keep in mind that pricing is still between $38 and up to $73 cwt above last year, and that's across all weight categories for steers and heifers. In addition to that seasonal decline, other factors are maybe the price of feed and also trucking feed. And we're still seeing a backlog of fed cattle in the system."

Feeder steers prices ranged from $334.33 cwt for the 300-400 pound weight category to $219.67 cwt for the 900+ pound category.  

Feeder heifers ranged from $248.39 cwt for the 300-400 pound weight category to $207.25 per cwt for the 800+lb weight category.

The Canfax price for Alberta fed steers was $183.42 per cwt up $0.11 from the previous week.

In Manitoba, feeder steer prices climbed $14.33 for an average of $218.67 for the 900+ category, while the biggest jump in feeder heifer prices was $23.89 per cwt for the 400-500 pound category.

Froats notes that last week feed prices stayed pretty steady. 

"U.S. corn prices were down, while Lethbridge barley was also down slightly. Iowa corn was at $339.70 per tonne, Omaha was at $370.20 per tonne, and Lethbridge. barley was at $452.50"

The Canfax price for Alberta fed steers was $183.42 per cwt up $0.11 from the previous week.

She says the prices of live, non-fed cattle in Alberta was down compared to the previous week.

"The price of D2 slaughter cows decreased $4.81 per cwt from the previous week to average $89.79 per cwt. The price of D3 slaughter cows were down $3.29 per cwt to average $78.50 per cwt."

In Manitoba, the largest price drop for slaughter cows was $14.70 for D3's to average at $73.80 per cwt

The rail price for non-fed cattle in Alberta ranged between $175.00-180.00 per cwt down $3.00 per cwt on both ends compared to the previous week.

Manitoba Agriculture's latest cattle marketing report shows 11,704 head of cattle went through the auction ring last week.