Billings Livestock Commission Cattle Auction Market Report

Billings, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Thursday, May 26, 2022

2,938 head sold ·Official USDA report

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

light 6-weight M&L 1 steers $207.12/cwt ≈ $1,306/hd at 631 lb · 366 head

heavy 5-weight M&L 1 heifers $170.06/cwt +19.27 vs last sale · ≈ $981/hd at 577 lb · 274 head

heavy 6-weight M&L 1 heifers $162.03/cwt +9.03 vs last sale · ≈ $1,110/hd at 685 lb · 143 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	2,938	1,420	2,703
Feeder cattle	1,955	167	1,517
Slaughter cattle	292	799	342
Replacement cattle	691	454	844

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Feeder steers and heifers were all too lightly tested last week to develop an accurate market trend, however higher undertones were noticed on a higher quality offering. Quality was mostly average to attractive this week. Several load lots were seen this week and these cattle were met with mostly good to very good demand. Many sets of cattle were developed for grass and were in light to moderate flesh. Demand for grass cattle was mostly good to very good, while cattle destined for the feedlot sold on mostly moderate demand. A good crowd was on hand for todays sold with both order buyers and ranchers actively bidding on offerings. Market activity was mostly active this week. Weigh up cows sold on light to moderate demand this sale. Packers opted to send most offerings to slaughter this week as cow quality was mostly plain to average. The limited offering of attractive cattle were purchased to feed. Slaughter cows sold mostly 2.00 lower on all offerings. Feeding cows sold steady to 1.00 lower. Weigh up conditions were mostly below average today as temperatures warmed into the low 80s and cows tanked up on water. Slaughter bulls sold generally steady. Several sets of cow calf and heifer pairs were seen today and these were met with mostly moderate demand. Quality was average to attractive. Young age cows suitable to feed or rebreed sold mostly 2.00-4.00 lower. Quality was mostly average today and not as many takers were seen for this class of cows.

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
422–448 unweaned	435	6	201.00	$201.00	$874	—
453 unweaned	453	3	187.50	$187.50	$849	—
510–541	532	31	202.00–206.50	$203.62	$1,083	—
554–563	559	127	210.00–213.00	$211.24	$1,181	—
597 unweaned	597	6	188.00	$188.00	$1,122	—
608	608	3	186.00	$186.00	$1,131	—
615 thin fleshed	615	103	212.00	$212.00	$1,304	—
617–643	637	260	186.00–209.00	$205.43	$1,309	—
660–670	663	19	178.00–209.00	$201.25	$1,334	+12.25
746	746	4	160.00	$160.00	$1,194	+0.02
746	746	10	173.50	$173.50	$1,294	+13.52
765–776	774	29	153.00–159.00	$154.23	$1,194	+0.23
852	852	11	143.50	$143.50	$1,223	—

Medium 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
587–595	591	24	150.00–158.00	$153.69	$908	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
506	506	4	195.00	$195.00	$987	—
610–628	619	6	180.00–185.00	$182.54	$1,130	—
685	685	4	166.00	$166.00	$1,137	—
897	897	5	139.00	$139.00	$1,247	—
924	924	4	133.00	$133.00	$1,229	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
385 unweaned	385	4	167.50	$167.50	$645	—
445 unweaned	445	4	162.50	$162.50	$723	—
460 unweaned	460	3	167.50	$167.50	$770	—
462	462	9	178.00	$178.00	$822	—
505–523	515	44	175.00–180.00	$178.57	$920	—
544–549 unweaned	546	18	170.50–171.00	$170.70	$932	—
560–595	577	274	164.00–175.50	$170.06	$981	+19.27
611–643	630	22	160.00–168.50	$163.69	$1,031	+11.19
660–693	685	143	157.00–165.50	$162.03	$1,110	+9.03
700–725	716	72	146.00–154.00	$151.46	$1,084	—
717	717	15	163.00	$163.00	$1,169	—
756	756	7	147.00	$147.00	$1,111	—
797	797	3	148.00	$148.00	$1,180	—
807	807	33	141.00	$141.00	$1,138	—
812–845	817	21	141.75–144.00	$142.08	$1,161	—
863–865	864	16	138.00–141.50	$140.19	$1,211	—
968	968	13	121.00	$121.00	$1,171	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
524	524	18	154.00	$154.00	$807	-1.00
553–569	560	14	157.00–165.00	$160.48	$899	—
635	635	13	156.00	$156.00	$991	+19.00
667–670	668	16	147.00–147.50	$147.09	$983	+10.09
705–728	711	16	143.00–143.50	$143.13	$1,018	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
760	760	69	1,250.00	$1,250.00	—

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
457	457	11	165.00	$165.00	$754	—
601	601	4	157.50	$157.50	$947	—

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
567	567	15	142.00	$142.00	$805	—

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
666	666	9	165.00	$165.00	$1,099	—
965	965	2	124.00	$124.00	$1,197	—

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Slaughter Cows

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1290–1660	1342	80-85%	20	76.00–80.00	$78.55	$1,054	—
1400–1417	1411	80-85%	9	73.50–74.50	$74.17	$1,047	+2.94
1365–1470	1418	80-85%	2	80.00–80.50	$80.24	$1,138	+9.01
1359–1520	1422	80-85%	7	82.50–83.00	$82.73	$1,176	+0.73
1203–1557	1423	80-85%	38	63.00–72.00	$68.21	$971	-13.79
1300–1705	1446	80-85%	34	72.00–79.00	$74.63	$1,079	+3.04

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
840–910	875	85-90%	2	54.00–58.00	$56.08	$491	—
1015–1185	1092	85-90%	3	53.00–57.50	$55.61	$607	—
1175–1195	1182	85-90%	3	76.50–77.00	$76.83	$908	+7.85
1015–1515	1212	85-90%	50	59.00–72.00	$66.18	$802	-9.47
1010–1335	1240	85-90%	33	72.50–77.00	$73.92	$917	-1.73
1284	1284	85-90%	5	71.00	$71.00	$912	—

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1505–1612	1548	75-80%	9	71.50–75.50	$73.28	$1,134	—
1576–1898	1648	75-80%	9	79.50–83.50	$80.52	$1,327	+5.45
1870	1870	75-80%	1	74.00	$74.00	$1,384	-6.00

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1180	1180	1	72.00	$72.00	$850	—
1155–1498	1357	4	91.00–101.00	$93.83	$1,273	+9.58
1530–1890	1658	5	84.00–93.00	$89.24	$1,480	—
1520–2402	1964	14	95.50–105.00	$98.53	$1,935	—
1890–2300	2084	11	105.50–115.00	$110.59	$2,305	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
775–1385	977	(<2 yrs)	Open	69	85.00–114.00	$105.92	$1,035
860–1465	1189	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	50	71.00–105.00	$87.45	$1,040

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
863	863	(<2 yrs)	Open	2	77.00	$77.00	$665

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Bred Cows

Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1173	1173	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	9	1,050.00	$1,050.00

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Bred Heifers

Medium 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
963	963	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	5	1,075.00	$1,075.00

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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
1192	1192	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	3	1,625.00	$1,625.00	—
1206–1474	1307	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	16	1,600.00–1,850.00	$1,744.23	—
1420	1420	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	Open	3	1,525.00	$1,525.00	—
1428	1428	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	Open	8	1,575.00	$1,575.00	—
1302–1643	1458	Aged (>8 yrs)	Open	88	1,385.00–1,485.00	$1,416.94	-18.06
1465 thin fleshed	1465	Aged (>8 yrs)	Open	2	1,200.00	$1,200.00	—
1365–1536	1517	Aged (>8 yrs)	Open	9	1,300.00–1,375.00	$1,367.50	—
1480–1547	1530	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	Open	12	1,510.00–1,825.00	$1,748.84	—
1565	1565	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	Open	10	1,425.00	$1,425.00	—
1535–1688	1613	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	Open	20	1,475.00–1,700.00	$1,508.26	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
1350	1350	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	3	1,350.00	$1,350.00	—
1381–1433	1400	Aged (>8 yrs)	Open	25	1,250.00	$1,250.00	—
1485	1485	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	Open	6	1,350.00	$1,350.00	—

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Heifer Pairs

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
1225–1302	1253	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	14	1,610.00–1,850.00	$1,760.90	—
1253	1253	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	9	1,675.00	$1,675.00	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
1121	1121	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	4	1,500.00	$1,500.00	—

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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.