Billings Livestock Commission Cattle Auction Market Report

Billings, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Thursday, January 27, 2022

1,407 head sold ·Official USDA report

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

heavy 6-weight L 1-2 steers $152.00/cwt ≈ $1,028/hd at 676 lb · 51 head

heavy 4-weight M&L 1 heifers $174.49/cwt -5.08 vs last sale · ≈ $803/hd at 460 lb · 35 head

light 4-weight M&L 1-2 heifers $167.82/cwt -2.71 vs last sale · ≈ $681/hd at 406 lb · 29 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	1,407	3,228	787
Feeder cattle	737	2,897	262
Slaughter cattle	509	201	335
Replacement cattle	161	130	190

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: All feeder cattle were too lightly tested this week to develop an accurate market trend, lower undertones were noticed on a significantly lower quality offering. Quality this week was mostly plain. Calves were offered in mostly small packages with many singles in the offering. CME positions sold off again today and spent much of the week in the red. Lower quality coupled with lower CME positions pushed all feeder prices lower. Fewer buyers were on hand this week as well. Market activity was mostly slow to moderate. Weigh up cows sold on mostly good to very good demand for light to moderate offerings. Packer buyers showed very good demand for slaughter cows this week. Packers pushed to own the majority of the cows in the offering as they pushed cow prices sharply higher. Slaughter cows sold mostly 4.00-6.00 higher on all classes. Feeding cows were too lightly tested to trend, higher undertones were noticed. Slaughter bulls sold steady to 2.00 higher. Young age cows suitable to feed or rebreed were too lightly tested last week to develop an accurate market comparison, however higher undertones were noticed. Quality this week was mostly average and better than last week. Demand for young age cows was mostly moderate.

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
375	375	10	217.00	$217.00	$814	—
405–444	432	26	212.00–218.00	$214.91	$928	-4.16
455–491	483	13	204.00–213.00	$205.96	$995	-4.69
517–542	533	8	195.00	$195.00	$1,039	-5.98
604	604	9	178.50	$178.50	$1,078	-5.98
663–673	669	11	161.00–167.00	$164.27	$1,099	-5.64

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
355–395	361	7	200.00–206.00	$203.75	$736	+7.54
400–430	408	4	190.00–205.00	$193.96	$791	-13.04
460–496	483	19	192.00–197.50	$193.93	$937	-8.07
535	535	4	181.00	$181.00	$968	-0.69
550–565	560	7	157.00–170.00	$162.44	$910	-10.86
611–645	626	22	160.00–168.00	$162.99	$1,020	—
677	677	5	159.00	$159.00	$1,076	-3.00

Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
676	676	51	152.00	$152.00	$1,028	—

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
695	695	1	145.00	$145.00	$1,008	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
455–485	460	35	170.00–175.00	$174.49	$803	+20.49
526	526	13	160.00	$160.00	$842	-2.00
578–595	587	25	160.00–163.00	$161.42	$948	+7.42
602 unweaned	602	7	145.00	$145.00	$873	—
603–635	610	5	150.00–152.50	$150.99	$921	-2.51
650–662	655	16	149.50–151.00	$150.34	$985	-3.23
865–874	871	8	134.00–134.50	$134.19	$1,169	-0.81

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
392	392	9	170.00	$170.00	$666	+7.45
401–412	406	29	165.00–170.00	$167.82	$681	-2.71
491	491	5	163.00	$163.00	$800	-0.41
500–514	508	7	152.00–154.00	$152.84	$776	—
573	573	9	144.00	$144.00	$825	-14.58
588 unweaned	588	5	134.00	$134.00	$788	—
605–608	607	3	140.00–144.00	$142.67	$866	—
670	670	3	139.00	$139.00	$931	—
752–781	765	9	133.00–136.00	$134.64	$1,030	-0.36

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
376–390	382	28	165.00–174.00	$169.40	$647	-2.60

Medium 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
342	342	13	152.50	$152.50	$522	—
382	382	13	151.00	$151.00	$577	+0.07

Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
563	563	6	141.00	$141.00	$794	—

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1055	1055	1	131.00	$131.00	$1,382	—

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
399	399	6	200.00	$200.00	$798	—
589	589	5	151.00	$151.00	$889	-13.00
602–606	605	23	151.00	$151.00	$914	-3.00
688	688	5	138.00	$138.00	$949	—
703	703	14	139.00	$139.00	$977	—
805	805	3	121.00	$121.00	$974	—
924	924	7	115.00	$115.00	$1,063	—
990	990	7	110.00	$110.00	$1,089	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
488–495	490	3	150.00–163.00	$158.63	$777	—
690	690	2	131.00	$131.00	$904	—
770	770	3	125.00	$125.00	$962	—
938	938	4	101.00	$101.00	$947	-14.00

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
393	393	3	185.00	$185.00	$727	—

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1110	1110	1	100.00	$100.00	$1,110	-6.00

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Slaughter Cows

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1137–1515	1294	80-85%	14	57.00–59.50	$58.74	$760	—
1319–1610	1410	80-85%	119	59.50–67.00	$63.86	$900	—
1308–1575	1417	80-85%	20	63.50–68.50	$67.08	$951	—
1444	1444	80-85%	16	70.50	$70.50	$1,018	—
1540	1540	80-85%	1	68.00	$68.00	$1,047	—

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1030–1294	1192	85-90%	67	47.00–58.50	$54.20	$646	—
1032–1375	1222	85-90%	55	58.50–68.50	$62.15	$759	+8.50

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1418–1508	1488	75-80%	31	68.75–70.00	$68.89	$1,025	—
1513–1835	1652	75-80%	13	65.00–67.00	$66.60	$1,100	—
1515–1967	1779	75-80%	7	67.50–71.50	$69.62	$1,239	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1245–1276	1271	6	85.00–86.00	$85.84	$1,091	—
1529	1529	8	77.00	$77.00	$1,177	—
1283–2430	1692	37	72.00–82.00	$78.35	$1,326	—
1553–2103	1757	21	82.00–88.50	$84.12	$1,478	+13.64
1825–2385	2079	7	92.00–97.50	$94.50	$1,965	—
2540–2710	2625	2	80.00–82.00	$80.97	$2,125	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
735–750 thin fleshed	744	(<2 yrs)	Open	9	80.00–82.00	$80.22	$597
805–1460	957	(<2 yrs)	Open	101	73.00–103.00	$92.54	$886
883–1390	1127	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	31	60.00–85.00	$72.02	$812

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
780	780	(<2 yrs)	Open	1	85.00	$85.00	$663
933	933	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	5	52.00	$52.00	$485

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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.