Billings Livestock Commission Cattle Auction Market Report

Billings, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Thursday, June 1, 2023

1,313 head sold ·Official USDA report

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

light 7-weight M&L 1 heifers $210.06/cwt -7.14 vs last sale · ≈ $1,546/hd at 736 lb · 48 head

heavy 4-weight M&L 1 heifers $268.00/cwt ≈ $1,294/hd at 483 lb · 22 head

light 9-weight M&L 1 heifers $178.71/cwt ≈ $1,675/hd at 937 lb · 21 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	1,313	1,751	1,440
Feeder cattle	437	1,319	638
Slaughter cattle	641	229	516
Replacement cattle	235	203	286

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Steers and heifers were too lightly tested to develop an accurate market trend, however higher undertones were noticed on steers and steady undertones were noticed on heifers. Quality this sale was mostly plain to average with lots of variation seen. Many sets of cut backs were seen as producers sell the end of their grass cattle following turnout. No load lots were seen today and most calves sold in small packages or as singles. Sharply higher CME live cattle contract prices were seen today as the nearby contract closed 5.775 higher to close at 174.90. Feeder cattle contracts also traded sharply higher from 2.475-4.20 higher on the August 23'-March 24' contracts. Market activity was mostly active. Weigh up cows sold on mostly good to very good demand for moderate offerings. Packers were very aggressive as they purchased cows for immediate harvest and to feed. Slaughter cows sold steady to firm on lean and boning cows, breaking cows were too lightly tested to trend, however higher undertones were noticed. Feeding cows sold mostly steady to 1.00 higher. Slaughter bulls sold mostly 2.00-4.00 higher. Weigh up conditions were mixed. Some offerings have been out on grass and were emptied out while others were pushing some fill, especially in the afternoon as temperatures warmed. Young age cows suitable to feed or rebreed sold 5.00-7.00 lower as fewer taker were seen for this class of cows as it is getting late to buy cows to turn out. Quality this week was mostly average.

New to these tables? Plain-English explainers ↓

Feeder Steers

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
708	708	16	218.00	$218.00	$1,543	—
854	854	11	184.00	$184.00	$1,571	—
1046	1046	7	175.00	$175.00	$1,830	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
540	540	2	290.00	$290.00	$1,566	—
585–592	590	4	285.00–292.00	$290.27	$1,713	+17.77
613–615	614	4	280.00–288.00	$286.00	$1,756	+18.00
655–661	660	9	249.00–250.00	$249.89	$1,649	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
488	488	3	265.00	$265.00	$1,293	+11.68
505	505	2	280.00	$280.00	$1,414	—
734	734	6	226.00	$226.00	$1,659	+3.00
800	800	1	205.00	$205.00	$1,640	+12.00
826	826	7	185.00	$185.00	$1,528	-8.00

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
498	498	3	246.00	$246.00	$1,225	—
746	746	14	208.00	$208.00	$1,552	—

Medium 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
409	409	6	200.00	$200.00	$818	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
402	402	6	270.00	$270.00	$1,085	—
483	483	22	268.00	$268.00	$1,294	—
516	516	4	261.00	$261.00	$1,347	-8.16
673	673	3	230.00	$230.00	$1,548	+3.98
733	733	21	203.00	$203.00	$1,488	-14.20
737–743	738	27	215.00–218.00	$215.56	$1,591	—
936–938	937	21	177.00–183.00	$178.71	$1,675	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
410	410	4	252.00	$252.00	$1,033	—
568–595	586	17	236.00–247.50	$240.46	$1,409	+10.46
628	628	3	230.00	$230.00	$1,444	+11.17
660–683	679	6	220.00–227.50	$221.92	$1,507	+7.72
743	743	12	184.00	$184.00	$1,367	-6.25
845	845	7	179.00	$179.00	$1,513	-5.50

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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
703–715	709	—	—	4	209.00–215.00	$212.03	$1,503	—
795	795	—	—	4	181.00	$181.00	$1,439	—
918	918	—	—	4	170.00	$170.00	$1,561	—
2185	2185	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	N/A	1	138.50	$138.50	$3,026	—

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1010	1010	1	165.00	$165.00	$1,666	+9.00
1070	1070	1	151.00	$151.00	$1,616	—
1125	1125	3	141.00	$141.00	$1,586	-0.74
1267	1267	3	142.00	$142.00	$1,799	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
685	685	3	220.00	$220.00	$1,507	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
180	180	2	500.00	$500.00	—

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Slaughter Cows

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
805–875	840	85-90%	2	73.00–84.00	$78.73	$661	—
930	930	85-90%	1	93.00	$93.00	$865	—
1078	1078	85-90%	3	81.00	$81.00	$873	—
1115	1115	85-90%	1	101.00	$101.00	$1,126	+6.33
940–1278	1153	85-90%	33	82.00–93.00	$90.37	$1,042	+1.10
940–1333	1196	85-90%	103	93.00–101.00	$97.03	$1,160	+2.18
1150–1265	1204	85-90%	7	102.00–105.50	$104.03	$1,253	—
1025–1309	1209	85-90%	27	85.00–93.00	$89.72	$1,085	—
1015–1341	1266	85-90%	30	93.00–98.00	$95.20	$1,205	-5.82

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1263–1615	1371	80-85%	48	97.00–105.50	$100.55	$1,379	-1.48
1345–1490	1382	80-85%	16	90.00–95.00	$93.31	$1,290	-8.72
1326–1610	1386	80-85%	16	89.00–96.00	$94.18	$1,305	-10.82
1255–1625	1395	80-85%	41	95.00–104.00	$99.53	$1,388	-5.47
1293–1685	1410	80-85%	71	104.50–112.50	$107.40	$1,514	—
1765	1765	80-85%	1	108.00	$108.00	$1,906	—

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1500–1590	1530	75-80%	3	101.00–103.00	$102.31	$1,565	+3.24
1543	1543	75-80%	2	106.50	$106.50	$1,643	+7.43
1563–1588	1576	75-80%	4	110.50–112.00	$111.24	$1,753	+6.51
1575–1865	1645	75-80%	5	95.00–103.00	$100.77	$1,658	—
1625–1735	1680	75-80%	2	107.00–108.50	$107.73	$1,810	—
1660–1708	1702	75-80%	8	109.00–109.50	$109.44	$1,863	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1187–1970	1312	9	127.00–137.00	$133.44	$1,751	+29.07
1108–1540	1351	11	114.00–132.00	$121.40	$1,640	+16.40
1320–1685	1491	5	105.00–109.00	$108.29	$1,615	—
1438–1985	1662	17	98.00–116.00	$111.63	$1,855	—
1370–2385	1799	40	117.00–128.00	$122.16	$2,198	—
1810–2410	2076	19	127.00–137.00	$131.66	$2,733	—
2465	2465	1	127.00	$127.00	$3,131	—

YG2-3 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1558	1558	4	119.00	$119.00	$1,854	—
2715	2715	1	90.00	$90.00	$2,444	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
850–927 thin fleshed	910	(<2 yrs)	Open	9	140.00–141.00	$140.79	$1,281
830–1595	1098	(<2 yrs)	Open	50	117.50–167.00	$145.19	$1,594
840–1450	1140	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	73	102.00–139.00	$114.57	$1,306
1183	1183	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	Open	3	99.00	$99.00	$1,171

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
870–1045	942	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	7	92.50–115.00	$101.65	$958
980–1200	1109	(<2 yrs)	Open	8	114.00–140.00	$129.22	$1,433

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
710–770	740	(<2 yrs)	Open	2	132.50–142.00	$137.44	$1,017
818	818	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	2	112.50	$112.50	$920

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
880	880	(<2 yrs)	Open	1	150.00	$150.00	$1,320

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1208	1208	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	2	1,500.00	$1,500.00
1300	1300	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	3	1,550.00	$1,550.00

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
1310–1435	1373	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	2	105.00–106.00	$105.52	$1,449
1385–1570	1478	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	2	106.50–108.00	$107.20	$1,584
1540	1540	Aged (>8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	1	82.00	$82.00	$1,263

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Cow-Calf Pairs

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
1417	1417	Aged (>8 yrs)	Open	9	1,750.00	$1,750.00	—

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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.