Billings Livestock Commission Cattle Auction Market Report

Billings, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Thursday, June 6, 2024

1,175 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 heifers $294.00/cwt +17.44 vs last sale · ≈ $1,832/hd at 623 lb · 83 head

light 9-weight M&L 1-2 heifers $214.85/cwt ≈ $2,000/hd at 931 lb · 60 head

heavy 8-weight M&L 1-2 heifers $213.00/cwt ≈ $1,906/hd at 895 lb · 41 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	1,175	1,217	1,483
Feeder cattle	391	907	550
Slaughter cattle	485	209	439
Replacement cattle	299	101	494

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last sale: Feeder cattle were too lightly tested to develop an accurate market trend, however steady to firm undertones were noticed on steer offerings and higher undertones were noticed on all heifer offerings. Demand for feeders was mostly good. Quality was mostly plain to average today. CME Feeder cattle contracts closed lower today with all contracts selling with triple digit losses. Market activity was mostly moderate to active. Weigh up cows sold on moderate to good demand for light to moderate offerings. Packers showed moderate to good demand for both slaughter and feeding cows this week. Slaughter cows sold mostly 3.00-4.00 lower on boning and lean cows, breaking cows sold sharply lower in a narrow comparison. The majority of the cow offering was purchased to feed this week. Feeding cows sold mostly 10.00 lower as last week saw very good demand from additional buyers in the market. Fewer buyers were in the market this week allowing feeding cow prices to fall to the same levels as two weeks ago. Thin fleshed feeding cows sold 3.00-4.00 lower lower than last week. Packers purchased a portion of the lean cow offering to put on feed for the 4th of July holiday. Quality was mostly average to very attractive this week. Weigh up conditions were mostly average to above average as many cows which were out on grass were empty come sale time. Slaughter bulls sold mostly 10.00 lower. Again, fewer buyers were in the market this week allowing bull prices to fall. Bull quality was mostly attractive today. Young age cows suitable to feed or rebreed sold generally steady. Quality was mostly average to attractive this week. Demand was mostly good to very good with the best demand seen for cows which lost calves. Demand for young feeding quality cows was good this week and stronger the last few weeks.

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
490	490	2	370.00	$370.00	$1,813	+26.98
563	563	5	349.00	$349.00	$1,965	+13.79
620	620	1	318.00	$318.00	$1,972	-3.02
660	660	1	304.00	$304.00	$2,006	+8.93
759–760	759	5	264.00	$264.00	$2,004	+3.00

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
346	346	4	380.00	$380.00	$1,315	—
575–580	578	2	310.00–322.50	$316.22	$1,828	+0.23
685	685	2	286.00	$286.00	$1,959	+21.00

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
465–473	470	11	310.00–317.50	$314.80	$1,480	—
513–533	521	8	305.00–307.50	$306.61	$1,597	+40.24
568–580	570	7	282.50–297.00	$294.89	$1,681	+32.46
658–685	663	10	240.00–246.00	$241.24	$1,599	-21.76
743	743	8	242.00	$242.00	$1,798	-1.06
783–795	787	13	226.00–228.00	$227.23	$1,788	-0.19
825	825	1	225.00	$225.00	$1,856	+1.00
895	895	41	213.00	$213.00	$1,906	—
922–931	931	60	212.00–215.00	$214.85	$2,000	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
482–485	484	9	325.00–332.50	$328.61	$1,590	+20.94
530	530	8	320.00	$320.00	$1,696	+22.23
554	554	16	306.00	$306.00	$1,695	+11.38
623	623	83	294.00	$294.00	$1,832	+17.44
705–740	730	8	240.00–248.00	$242.70	$1,772	-9.79
781	781	8	232.00	$232.00	$1,812	-10.76

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
548	548	9	245.00	$245.00	$1,343	—

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
480	480	4	300.00	$300.00	$1,440	—

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
495	495	4	275.00	$275.00	$1,361	—

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Feeder Bulls

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
553	553	5	255.00	$255.00	$1,410	—
1127	1127	6	196.00	$196.00	$2,209	—
1160	1160	1	197.00	$197.00	$2,285	—
1214	1214	4	189.00	$189.00	$2,294	—
1290	1290	1	160.00	$160.00	$2,064	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
328 unweaned	328	2	330.00	$330.00	$1,082	—
714	714	6	242.50	$242.50	$1,731	+2.50
785	785	1	251.00	$251.00	$1,970	—
975	975	1	209.00	$209.00	$2,038	—

Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
1043–1135	1099	(<2 yrs)	N/A	8	2,500.00–2,650.00	$2,535.21	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
411–418	413	6	320.00–330.00	$326.63	$1,349	—
860	860	1	213.00	$213.00	$1,832	—
1185	1185	1	187.50	$187.50	$2,222	—

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Slaughter Cows

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1176–1590	1347	80-85%	92	133.50–139.50	$137.31	$1,850	—
1150–1585	1368	80-85%	29	129.00–138.50	$135.82	$1,858	—
1225–1545	1403	80-85%	4	140.00–144.00	$141.06	$1,979	—
1285–1555	1446	80-85%	31	118.00–133.00	$129.20	$1,868	—
1445–1465	1455	80-85%	2	139.50–140.00	$139.75	$2,033	—
1310–1623	1463	80-85%	6	116.00–125.00	$121.61	$1,779	—

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
908–975	942	85-90%	4	82.50–97.50	$89.73	$845	—
1030–1160	1105	85-90%	3	115.00–123.00	$119.81	$1,324	-22.19
1015–1405	1131	85-90%	10	103.00–121.00	$115.51	$1,306	-8.47
1045–1295	1168	85-90%	11	123.00–134.50	$128.83	$1,505	-18.60
975–1281	1180	85-90%	52	122.00–136.00	$129.11	$1,523	-18.32
1050–1280	1185	85-90%	56	136.50–140.00	$137.79	$1,633	-9.64
1060–1228	1189	85-90%	5	90.00–100.00	$94.88	$1,128	-52.55
1215	1215	85-90%	1	136.00	$136.00	$1,652	—

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1517–1840	1566	75-80%	29	135.50–141.50	$137.37	$2,151	—
1350–1880	1591	75-80%	9	122.00–133.50	$129.97	$2,068	—
1616–1640	1619	75-80%	7	139.00–142.00	$139.43	$2,257	—
1670–1800	1730	75-80%	4	142.00–146.00	$144.15	$2,494	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1215–1795	1505	2	154.00–157.50	$155.41	$2,339	—
1370–1760	1528	10	132.00–149.00	$139.83	$2,137	—
1620–1915	1733	5	135.00–148.00	$143.25	$2,483	—
1468–2090	1863	14	149.00–163.00	$154.51	$2,879	—
1948–2260	2095	7	162.00–165.00	$164.14	$3,439	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
751–1155	963	(<2 yrs)	Open	52	161.00–237.00	$199.85	$1,925
870–1285	1121	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	53	140.00–188.00	$160.97	$1,804
1168–1440	1288	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	Open	6	137.00–140.00	$138.83	$1,788

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
855–1075	948	(<2 yrs)	Open	6	150.00–177.50	$163.63	$1,551
1135	1135	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	1	141.00	$141.00	$1,600

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
650	650	(<2 yrs)	Open	4	244.00	$244.00	$1,586

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
1050–1130	1090	(<2 yrs)	Open	2	171.00–176.00	$173.59	$1,892

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1195	1195	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	3	2,100.00	$2,100.00
1200–1270	1235	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	2	1,950.00	$1,950.00
1120–1303	1259	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	8	2,100.00–2,400.00	$2,226.67

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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
1311–1386	1348	Aged (>8 yrs)	Open	18	2,350.00–2,375.00	$2,369.60	-130.40
1430–1672	1491	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	Open	17	2,550.00–2,900.00	$2,641.80	—
1677	1677	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	Open	7	3,450.00	$3,450.00	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
1328	1328	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	Open	2	2,300.00	$2,300.00	+250.00

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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.