Billings Livestock Commission Cattle Auction Market Report

Billings, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Monday, October 23, 2023

1,860 head sold ·Official USDA report

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

light 5-weight M&L 1 steers $280.15/cwt +9.54 vs last sale · ≈ $1,451/hd at 518 lb · 65 head

heavy 5-weight M&L 1 steers $263.57/cwt +8.35 vs last sale · ≈ $1,508/hd at 572 lb · 51 head

heavy 4-weight M&L 1 steers $307.97/cwt -5.24 vs last sale · ≈ $1,441/hd at 468 lb · 47 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	1,860	1,145	535
Feeder cattle	788	551	136
Slaughter cattle	787	499	328
Replacement cattle	285	95	71

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: The best test for feeder cattle was for 500-599 lbs steers which sold mostly 5.00-8.00 higher than last Monday. All other weights of steers and heifers sold with lower undertones. CME positions sold off sharply today on all feeder cattle contracts. The November contract through September 2024 all lost between 6.35-7.40 following the bearish cattle on feed report which was released on Friday. Quality this week was mostly average to attractive and overall much better than last Mondays sale. Demand and offerings were light to moderate. All feeders were offered in small packages or as singles. With a large early winter storm forecasted for later in the week some ranchers opted to sell calves today instead of later in the week. Market activity was mostly moderate. Weigh up cows sold on light to moderate demand and offerings. Slaughter cows sold steady to 3.00 lower on breaking cows, boning and lean cows sold 5.00-8.00 lower. High quality feeding cows, suitable to feed to premium white, sold mostly 5.00 lower. Thin short term feeding cows sold 5.00-7.00 lower in a narrow comparison. Slaughter bulls sold steady to 3.00 lower in a narrow comparison. Young age cows suitable to feed or rebreed sold steady to 5.00 lower.

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
300 unweaned	300	26	350.00	$350.00	$1,050	—
406–424 unweaned	415	30	316.00–333.00	$324.83	$1,348	—
454–483 unweaned	468	47	300.00–317.50	$307.97	$1,441	-5.24
500–539 unweaned	518	65	270.00–284.00	$280.15	$1,451	+9.54
560–584 unweaned	572	51	246.00–274.00	$263.57	$1,508	+8.35
602–649 unweaned	631	37	236.00–242.50	$237.17	$1,497	-2.83
651–659 unweaned	655	20	231.00–236.50	$233.00	$1,526	-5.49
709 unweaned	709	4	231.00	$231.00	$1,638	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
310 unweaned	310	3	340.00	$340.00	$1,054	—
410	410	9	320.00	$320.00	$1,312	—
413–431 unweaned	424	13	305.00–316.00	$309.42	$1,312	-19.58
469–488 unweaned	477	28	270.00–277.50	$271.08	$1,293	+10.08
518 unweaned	518	10	260.00	$260.00	$1,347	+1.44
558–594 unweaned	572	42	236.00–252.50	$244.13	$1,396	—
680 unweaned	680	2	220.00	$220.00	$1,496	—
743	743	4	233.00	$233.00	$1,731	—

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
490 unweaned	490	1	261.00	$261.00	$1,279	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
355 unweaned	355	2	290.00	$290.00	$1,030	-22.00
406–428 unweaned	420	37	260.00–285.00	$265.86	$1,117	-30.33
457–479 unweaned	473	15	252.50–255.00	$254.25	$1,203	-17.65
502–530 unweaned	523	41	240.00–250.00	$246.77	$1,291	-7.52
551–595 unweaned	564	45	231.00–243.50	$239.58	$1,351	—
600–615 unweaned	614	20	221.00–230.00	$229.56	$1,409	-3.44
669 unweaned	669	8	220.00	$220.00	$1,472	-10.00
857–862	859	11	212.00–219.00	$214.55	$1,843	-9.72
910	910	3	210.00	$210.00	$1,911	-3.54

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
297 unweaned	297	26	320.00–325.00	$320.58	$952	—
314–335 unweaned	320	7	295.00–302.50	$297.24	$951	+27.24
390 unweaned	390	8	277.50	$277.50	$1,082	—
435–436 unweaned	436	11	230.00–252.50	$246.37	$1,074	-2.12
574 unweaned	574	4	216.00	$216.00	$1,240	—
704	704	4	215.00	$215.00	$1,514	—

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
413 unweaned	413	6	240.00	$240.00	$991	+4.00
461 unweaned	461	7	232.50	$232.50	$1,072	—

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1101–1127	1110	9	187.00–188.50	$187.51	$2,081	-8.49

Medium 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
635	635	4	182.50	$182.50	$1,159	-44.50

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Feeder Bulls

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1029	1029	5	172.00	$172.00	$1,770	—
1065–1088	1073	16	162.00–180.00	$164.74	$1,768	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1070	1070	1	188.00	$188.00	$2,012	—

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Slaughter Cows

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
845	845	85-90%	1	74.00	$74.00	$625	—
945	945	85-90%	1	60.00	$60.00	$567	-0.77
1060	1060	85-90%	1	102.50	$102.50	$1,086	—
1019–1340	1175	85-90%	19	61.00–72.50	$68.80	$808	—
958–1336	1193	85-90%	115	73.50–84.00	$78.61	$938	—
965–1380	1259	85-90%	83	84.50–96.00	$90.17	$1,135	—
1035–1340	1259	85-90%	48	73.00–83.00	$77.07	$970	—
1270–1280	1275	85-90%	2	72.00	$72.00	$918	—
1155–1321	1283	85-90%	14	84.00–95.00	$87.46	$1,122	—

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1280–1511	1382	80-85%	51	80.00–91.00	$83.82	$1,158	-21.08
1290–1920	1413	80-85%	50	77.00–86.00	$81.73	$1,155	—
1415	1415	80-85%	1	105.00	$105.00	$1,486	—
1275–1595	1437	80-85%	146	92.00–103.00	$96.74	$1,390	—
1430–1555	1455	80-85%	5	87.00–93.00	$91.72	$1,335	+0.21
1350–1643	1473	80-85%	7	72.00–77.00	$74.56	$1,098	-16.95

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1423	1423	75-80%	2	92.00	$92.00	$1,309	—
1570–1640	1596	75-80%	5	105.00–108.00	$106.10	$1,693	—
1603–1620	1605	75-80%	8	105.00–106.00	$105.13	$1,687	+4.14
1577–1760	1635	75-80%	9	90.00–102.00	$96.96	$1,585	-8.89

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1183	1183	4	87.00	$87.00	$1,029	—
1460–1745	1600	18	94.00–104.00	$97.94	$1,567	-3.20
1765–1813	1797	3	104.50–106.00	$104.99	$1,887	—
1560–2025	1823	15	91.00–105.50	$100.47	$1,832	-12.33
1675–2090	1882	10	107.00–114.00	$109.59	$2,062	—
2625	2625	1	95.00	$95.00	$2,494	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
765 thin fleshed	765	(<2 yrs)	Open	2	167.50	$167.50	$1,281
798–1270	959	(<2 yrs)	Open	122	131.00–185.00	$160.51	$1,539
920–1430	1130	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	69	102.00–141.00	$121.67	$1,375

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
733–1290	987	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	10	82.00–110.00	$94.71	$935
1045–1160	1103	(<2 yrs)	Open	2	114.00–126.00	$119.69	$1,320

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
1035	1035	(<2 yrs)	Open	1	123.00	$123.00	$1,273

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
1257	1257	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	3	81.00	$81.00	$1,018
1373–1430	1411	Aged (>8 yrs)	1st/2nd Stage (1-6 mo)	6	76.00–81.00	$79.38	$1,120

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1121	1121	Young (2-4 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	4	1,675.00	$1,675.00

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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.