Billings Livestock Commission Cattle Auction Market Report

Billings, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Thursday, September 2, 2021

1,892 head sold ·Official USDA report

This is an archived report. See the latest Billings Livestock Commission Cattle Auction report →

heavy 7-weight M&L 1 heifers $156.12/cwt +1.96 vs last sale · ≈ $1,216/hd at 779 lb · 165 head

light 9-weight M&L 1 heifers $138.32/cwt -3.89 vs last sale · ≈ $1,284/hd at 928 lb · 41 head

heavy 6-weight M&L 1 heifers $154.50/cwt -2.50 vs last sale · ≈ $1,074/hd at 695 lb · 40 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	1,892	3,419	1,353
Feeder cattle	799	2,216	702
Slaughter cattle	896	759	290
Replacement cattle	197	444	361

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Yearling steers as well as spring born steer calves sold generally steady. Yearling heifers under 800 lbs sold 1.00-3.00 higher, while heifers over 800 lbs sold mostly steady to weak. Demand was mostly moderate to good for all yearlings and calves on offer. Quality this sale was average to attractive on yearlings and mostly average on calves. One load lot of yearlings was seen this week and demand was mostly good. CME positions have slid lower over the past week, however demand and prices remain very similar to last sale two weeks ago. Market activity was moderate to active. Weigh up cows sold on mixed demand for heavy offerings. Cows continue to sell to feed, slaughter and to go back to the country to test for breds. This created uneven demand in places as replacement buyers and feeding buyers both showed good demand for cows. Slaughter cow buyers showed light to moderate demand for cows. Breaking cows sold steady to 2.00 higher as feeding buyers forced these offerings mostly higher. Boning and lean cows sold 2.00-3.00 lower. Feeding cows sold steady to 2.00 higher on good to very good demand both from packer and feeding buyers. Slaughter bulls sold steady to 1.00 lower, again feeding buyers helped hold bull prices near steady. Feeding bull buyers showed good demand for all sound bulls under 2000 lbs. Replacement cows sold on mostly good demand especially for young to middle age cows which were confirmed bred by the vet. All stocker cows sold on mostly good demand. These offerings sold fully steady.

New to these tables? Plain-English explainers ↓

Feeder Steers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
307–341 unweaned	330	9	224.00	$224.00	$739	+11.00
351 unweaned	351	10	225.00	$225.00	$790	+10.95
426 unweaned	426	19	199.00	$199.00	$848	-0.79
460–496 unweaned	491	23	177.00–187.00	$179.49	$881	+1.57
516–519 unweaned	517	31	172.00–175.00	$173.74	$898	+5.34
580 unweaned	580	3	166.00	$166.00	$963	-0.39
737 unweaned	737	3	153.50	$153.50	$1,131	—
786	786	5	164.00	$164.00	$1,289	-0.04
830	830	6	162.00	$162.00	$1,345	-0.39
851	851	4	155.00	$155.00	$1,319	-0.80
876	876	4	158.00	$158.00	$1,384	+2.20
923	923	5	151.00	$151.00	$1,394	-5.23

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
429 unweaned	429	4	183.00	$183.00	$785	+6.91
510–533 unweaned	523	7	161.00–169.00	$167.04	$874	-3.96
827	827	3	141.00	$141.00	$1,166	-13.50
912–948	926	10	139.50–140.50	$139.91	$1,296	-4.72

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
485 unweaned	485	3	169.00	$169.00	$820	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
315 unweaned	315	7	187.00	$187.00	$589	+2.81
378 unweaned	378	10	177.00	$177.00	$669	-5.12
400–446 unweaned	433	27	167.00–179.00	$171.57	$743	+1.83
457–487 unweaned	466	32	164.00–170.00	$169.16	$788	+3.47
523 unweaned	523	6	161.00	$161.00	$842	+6.56
598 unweaned	598	3	149.00	$149.00	$891	-2.01
695	695	40	154.50	$154.50	$1,074	-2.50
703–713	709	10	154.00–157.50	$156.11	$1,107	+1.80
719 unweaned	719	4	139.00	$139.00	$999	—
756–793	779	165	152.75–157.75	$156.12	$1,216	+3.09
875	875	4	132.00	$132.00	$1,155	-14.07
878–882	880	22	142.00–146.25	$145.85	$1,283	-0.22
903–935	928	41	137.00–139.00	$138.32	$1,284	-3.89
966	966	15	137.50	$137.50	$1,328	-1.60
996	996	9	126.50	$126.50	$1,260	-12.60

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
393	393	3	169.00	$169.00	$664	—
412 unweaned	412	9	169.00	$169.00	$696	+8.00
485 unweaned	485	1	169.00	$169.00	$820	+16.00
720	720	1	145.00	$145.00	$1,044	-2.00
833–847	841	9	139.50–144.00	$142.05	$1,195	—

Medium 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
588–593	590	9	145.00–150.00	$148.32	$875	+1.82
687	687	9	142.00	$142.00	$976	—

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Feeder Bulls

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
300 unweaned	300	3	200.00	$200.00	$600	—
439 unweaned	439	3	160.00	$160.00	$702	—

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Slaughter Cows

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
896	896	85-90%	4	45.00	$45.00	$403	—
965–990	978	85-90%	2	54.00	$54.00	$528	-0.18
985	985	85-90%	3	56.00	$56.00	$552	+1.82
1002–1123	1060	85-90%	45	51.00–56.00	$54.09	$573	+3.96
1175	1175	85-90%	1	62.50	$62.50	$734	+5.39
980–1333	1191	85-90%	158	49.50–56.50	$53.78	$641	-3.33
1211	1211	85-90%	5	47.50	$47.50	$575	-9.37
1105–1360	1241	85-90%	18	56.00–57.00	$56.62	$703	-0.25
1175–1360	1276	85-90%	14	57.00–65.50	$60.04	$766	-0.82

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1255–1462	1332	80-85%	33	70.00–75.00	$73.17	$975	—
1009–1518	1346	80-85%	41	52.00–56.50	$54.17	$729	—
1264–1478	1356	80-85%	70	58.50–69.00	$64.38	$873	+4.51
1167–1555	1399	80-85%	15	54.25–57.00	$55.52	$777	-4.35
1198–1487	1413	80-85%	43	56.25–63.00	$58.42	$825	-12.40
1408–1437	1434	80-85%	18	67.00–72.50	$71.90	$1,031	+9.03

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1417–1695	1504	75-80%	40	61.00–73.00	$68.73	$1,034	—
1504	1504	75-80%	12	69.00	$69.00	$1,038	—
1474–1895	1530	75-80%	66	74.00–77.50	$76.52	$1,171	—
1531–1565	1533	75-80%	21	74.00–78.00	$77.42	$1,187	—
1410–1828	1641	75-80%	16	78.00–82.50	$79.14	$1,299	+5.45
1890	1890	75-80%	1	80.00	$80.00	$1,512	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1140	1140	1	62.00	$62.00	$707	—
1140–1710	1495	5	84.50–86.00	$85.04	$1,271	—
1220–1930	1557	18	69.00–81.50	$76.35	$1,189	-2.37
1645–1790	1693	3	88.50–89.50	$88.85	$1,504	—
1300–2035	1715	13	71.00–80.50	$77.39	$1,327	—
1530–1990	1742	31	81.00–88.00	$84.34	$1,469	—
1535–2540	1911	30	88.00–96.00	$91.41	$1,747	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
755 thin fleshed	755	(<2 yrs)	Open	1	86.00	$86.00	$649
848–1238	988	(<2 yrs)	Open	28	67.00–98.50	$86.52	$855
848–1240	1093	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	49	58.00–88.00	$72.98	$798

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
1293	1293	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	6	65.00	$65.00	$840

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1060–1445	1156	Young (2-4 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	16	1,025.00–1,185.00	$1,140.02
1180–1224	1199	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	23	950.00–1,035.00	$987.72
1245	1245	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	11	1,200.00	$1,200.00

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1125–1258	1218	Young (2-4 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	11	1,000.00	$1,000.00
1269	1269	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	6	1,000.00	$1,000.00

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Bred Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
1118	1118	(<2 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	6	113.00	$113.00	$1,263

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Cow-Calf Pairs

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
1159	1159	Young (2-4 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	7	1,360.00	$1,360.00	—
1493	1493	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	2	1,285.00	$1,285.00	—

Small 2-3 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
1098	1098	Aged (>8 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	6	575.00	$575.00	—

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Reading this report

What does "Medium and Large 1" mean?

USDA feeder grades describe frame size and muscle thickness, not quality of the individual animal. "Medium and Large" is the frame score; the number is muscle (1 = heaviest muscled). "Medium and Large 1–2" pens mix both muscle scores — common across the Southeast.

What is $/cwt?

Dollars per hundredweight — per 100 lb of animal. A 500-lb calf at $450/cwt brings 5 × $450 = $2,250. Lighter cattle usually bring more per cwt but less per head.

Why are some prices per head?

Bred cows, cow-calf pairs, and some replacement classes sell by the head, not by weight. We show those exactly as USDA reports them — a $/head figure is never converted into $/cwt on this site.

Where do these numbers come from?

From the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service's Livestock Market News — federal reporters at the sale. We publish each report in full and link the official USDA document at the top of the page.