Billings Livestock Commission Cattle Auction Market Report

Billings, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Thursday, May 4, 2023

1,298 head sold ·Official USDA report

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

heavy 5-weight M&L 1 heifers $238.02/cwt -17.67 vs last sale · ≈ $1,352/hd at 568 lb · 30 head

heavy 6-weight M&L 1 bulls $219.00/cwt ≈ $1,459/hd at 666 lb · 20 head

heavy 4-weight M&L 1 heifers $250.63/cwt -10.38 vs last sale · ≈ $1,193/hd at 476 lb · 14 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	1,298	4,720	948
Feeder cattle	303	4,649	468
Slaughter cattle	593	—	292
Replacement cattle	402	71	188

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Steers and heifers were too lightly tested today to develop an accurate market trend, however steady to lower undertones were noticed on a poorer quality offering. Quality this sale was mostly plain to average and significantly lower than last weeks attractive offering for the feeder special. Most lots were offered in small packages or as singles. Demand remains good to very good, despite light offerings. Demand for cattle suitable to run on grass was very good as order buyers and local ranchers competed over limited offerings. Market activity was active to very active. Weigh up cows sold on mostly good demand for moderate offerings. Packers showed the best demand for feeding quality cows this week as they purchased much of the cow offering to put away on feed. Slaughter and feeding cows were not well compared as last weeks sale featured mostly feeder cattle. No comparisons are available. Slaughter cows sold on lighter demand this week. As supplies of cows have started to increase around the country due to seasonal culling and pockets of drought. Slaughter bulls sold are not well compared. Demand for bulls remains mostly good. Feeding and slaughter bull buyers both were active bidders today showing mostly good demand. Weigh up conditions were mixed today as both full and empty offerings were seen. Young age cows suitable to feed or rebreed were not well compared. Quality this week was mostly average with a limited offering of attractive cattle noted.

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
450–478	474	7	280.00–282.50	$282.16	$1,337	-9.84
528	528	3	275.00	$275.00	$1,452	-2.23
600–633	619	7	250.50–258.00	$253.62	$1,570	-11.87
675	675	1	235.00	$235.00	$1,586	-12.44
708	708	2	231.00	$231.00	$1,635	-9.87
759	759	5	213.00	$213.00	$1,617	+4.60
857	857	3	190.00	$190.00	$1,628	+0.06

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
411	411	7	265.00	$265.00	$1,089	+18.66
463–490	472	3	255.00–260.00	$258.27	$1,219	—
557	557	3	232.50	$232.50	$1,295	-20.02
687	687	11	214.00	$214.00	$1,470	-7.47
710	710	4	210.00	$210.00	$1,491	-5.43

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
745	745	3	198.00	$198.00	$1,475	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
421–445	434	11	254.00–255.00	$254.44	$1,104	-3.94
458–490	476	14	247.50–260.00	$250.63	$1,193	-10.38
542	542	3	237.00	$237.00	$1,285	-13.21
555–592	568	30	230.00–244.00	$238.02	$1,352	-17.67
630	630	11	230.00	$230.00	$1,449	-22.49
663	663	2	218.00	$218.00	$1,445	-17.21
800	800	6	188.00	$188.00	$1,504	-8.06
897	897	5	174.00	$174.00	$1,561	-6.68

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
455–496	475	14	230.00–240.00	$239.32	$1,137	—
520–543	535	3	215.00–220.00	$218.38	$1,168	-6.74
593	593	2	222.00	$222.00	$1,316	+14.50

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
417	417	9	232.50	$232.50	$970	—
483	483	2	212.50	$212.50	$1,026	-17.50

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
405	405	6	237.50	$237.50	$962	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
65–80	73	2	200.00	$200.00	—

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
466	466	—	—	5	250.00	$250.00	$1,165	-5.00
550–583	563	—	—	5	240.00–245.00	$242.07	$1,363	+4.57
617	617	—	—	3	246.50	$246.50	$1,521	+1.50
666	666	—	—	20	219.00	$219.00	$1,459	—
765	765	—	—	3	185.00	$185.00	$1,415	-6.00
1070	1070	(<2 yrs)	N/A	2	164.00	$164.00	$1,755	—

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
354	354	7	275.00	$275.00	$974	—

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1060	1060	4	158.00	$158.00	$1,675	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
525–547	542	4	240.00–247.50	$241.82	$1,311	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
75	75	1	200.00	$200.00	—

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Slaughter Cows

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
785–965	920	85-90%	6	70.00–79.00	$73.04	$672	—
970	970	85-90%	3	85.00	$85.00	$824	—
1055	1055	85-90%	2	69.50	$69.50	$733	—
1020–1357	1145	85-90%	68	75.00–84.00	$82.13	$940	—
1095–1310	1199	85-90%	35	84.50–93.00	$88.24	$1,058	—
975–1410	1202	85-90%	61	86.50–99.00	$89.16	$1,072	—
1260	1260	85-90%	2	95.00	$95.00	$1,197	—
1295	1295	85-90%	1	97.50	$97.50	$1,263	—

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1290–1390	1367	80-85%	11	100.50–107.00	$102.93	$1,407	—
1310–1450	1380	80-85%	2	84.00–87.00	$85.58	$1,181	—
1293–1765	1415	80-85%	14	87.50–96.00	$92.61	$1,310	—
1340–1645	1473	80-85%	7	82.00–85.00	$83.77	$1,234	—
1315–1575	1481	80-85%	43	92.00–100.50	$97.65	$1,446	—
1485	1485	80-85%	4	104.50	$104.50	$1,552	—

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1490–1588	1542	75-80%	8	97.50–99.00	$98.20	$1,514	—
1508–1947	1689	75-80%	9	96.00–100.00	$98.45	$1,663	—
1810–1815	1810	75-80%	32	101.00–102.00	$101.97	$1,846	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1245–1430	1307	3	111.00–123.00	$118.62	$1,550	—
1440	1440	2	106.00	$106.00	$1,526	—
1485–1835	1683	4	89.00–109.00	$100.28	$1,688	—
1580–2155	1870	7	111.00–122.00	$114.07	$2,133	—
1805–2395	2003	3	124.00–129.00	$125.90	$2,522	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
802–1285	958	(<2 yrs)	Open	50	130.00–183.00	$165.02	$1,581
853–1325	1019	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	82	96.00–161.00	$121.16	$1,235
1155–1345	1225	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	Open	3	92.00–103.00	$96.34	$1,180

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
753 thin fleshed	753	(<2 yrs)	Open	8	142.00	$142.00	$1,069
720–880	800	(<2 yrs)	Open	4	151.00–160.00	$155.05	$1,240
880–901	891	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	13	100.00–111.00	$105.99	$944

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
690–765	746	(<2 yrs)	Open	4	150.00–163.00	$153.01	$1,141

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
963	963	(<2 yrs)	Open	2	161.00	$161.00	$1,550

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
983–1316	1184	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	32	1,925.00–2,250.00	$2,077.60
1274	1274	Aged (>8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	8	1,350.00	$1,350.00
1522	1522	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	3	1,835.00	$1,835.00

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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
1173	1173	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	14	2,450.00	$2,450.00	—
1345	1345	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	Open	6	2,050.00	$2,050.00	—
1387	1387	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	10	2,400.00	$2,400.00	—
1387	1387	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	Open	8	2,300.00	$2,300.00	—
1482	1482	Aged (>8 yrs)	Open	10	2,050.00	$2,050.00	+450.00
1540	1540	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	Open	3	2,000.00	$2,000.00	—

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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.