Billings Livestock Commission Cattle Auction Market Report

Billings, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Monday, December 18, 2023

992 head sold ·Official USDA report

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

light 3-weight M&L 1-2 steers $326.27/cwt ≈ $1,093/hd at 335 lb · 60 head

light 3-weight M&L 1 heifers $300.00/cwt ≈ $993/hd at 331 lb · 44 head

light 6-weight M&L 1 heifers $215.18/cwt +5.18 vs last sale · ≈ $1,332/hd at 619 lb · 24 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	992	866	1,358
Feeder cattle	490	188	608
Slaughter cattle	401	543	572
Replacement cattle	101	135	178

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Feeder cattle were all too lightly tested to develop an accurate market trend, however higher undertones were noticed. Quality today was plain to average. A large portion of the feeder cattle offering was comprised of pen clean up cattle with many blemished and lame cattle seen. Buyers picked around and showed good demand for high quality calves. Demand was mostly moderate for light to moderate offerings. CME positions traded higher today with triple digit gains seen. The nearby January traded 2.275 higher while the March traded 1.975 higher, to close at 223.175 and 224.15 respectfully. Market activity was mostly moderate today. Weigh up cows sold on moderate to good demand for mostly light to moderate offerings. Slaughter cows sold mostly steady to 1.00 higher on all classes. High quality feeding cows sold 1.00-2.00 higher. Thin feeding or turn out cows sold mostly steady to 1.00 higher. Slaughter bulls were too lightly tested last week to develop an accurate market trend, however steady undertones were noticed. Weigh up conditions were mixed today. Young cows suitable to feed or rebreed sold on light to moderate demand. Quality was mostly plain to average and most offerings sold to feed. Too few offerings were seen this week to develop an accurate market trend, however lower undertones were noticed.

New to these tables? Plain-English explainers ↓

Feeder Steers

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
318–341	335	60	325.00–330.00	$326.27	$1,093	—
398	398	6	317.50	$317.50	$1,264	—
590	590	2	238.00	$238.00	$1,404	+8.00
607	607	3	200.00	$200.00	$1,214	—
651–690	668	7	200.00–210.00	$205.57	$1,373	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
433	433	3	324.00	$324.00	$1,403	—
455–480	471	15	300.00–307.50	$304.21	$1,433	+11.71
505	505	3	291.00	$291.00	$1,470	+24.50
558–570	561	13	270.00	$270.00	$1,515	+22.00

Medium 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
516–540	523	7	127.50–150.00	$134.14	$702	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
331	331	44	300.00	$300.00	$993	—
410–428	422	7	280.00–287.00	$284.62	$1,201	—
466	466	6	270.00	$270.00	$1,258	—
558	558	2	235.00	$235.00	$1,311	+13.00
613–625	619	24	211.00–219.00	$215.18	$1,332	+5.18
757	757	3	198.00	$198.00	$1,499	—
908	908	4	190.00	$190.00	$1,725	—
1012	1012	5	185.50	$185.50	$1,877	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
326	326	4	287.00	$287.00	$936	—
375	375	1	285.00	$285.00	$1,069	—
385 unweaned	385	2	272.00	$272.00	$1,047	—
405–446	431	17	251.00–265.00	$258.08	$1,112	—
460–498	480	4	250.00–252.00	$251.28	$1,206	+7.89
520	520	1	232.50	$232.50	$1,209	+2.50
554–573	560	10	200.00–223.00	$208.77	$1,169	—
762	762	7	190.00	$190.00	$1,448	—
803	803	20	196.00	$196.00	$1,574	—
1043	1043	2	157.00	$157.00	$1,638	—

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
789	789	7	199.00	$199.00	$1,570	—

Medium 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
265	265	7	240.00	$240.00	$636	—

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
762	762	7	190.00	$190.00	$1,448	—

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
403	403	3	312.50	$312.50	$1,259	—
623–646	643	20	217.50–230.00	$228.18	$1,467	—
701	701	6	210.00	$210.00	$1,472	—
948	948	12	151.00	$151.00	$1,431	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
493	493	2	265.00	$265.00	$1,306	—
593	593	3	187.50	$187.50	$1,112	-40.00

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Slaughter Cows

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
810–1270	1080	85-90%	91	70.00–82.50	$77.83	$841	—
1130–1225	1164	85-90%	6	80.00–87.00	$83.33	$970	+0.16
1165	1165	85-90%	1	50.00	$50.00	$582	-33.17
1115–1280	1173	85-90%	5	67.00–79.00	$76.28	$895	+18.94
1125–1245	1179	85-90%	12	93.00–95.00	$93.85	$1,106	+9.41
1055–1295	1190	85-90%	79	81.00–92.00	$85.21	$1,014	+0.77

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1263–1520	1395	80-85%	39	87.00–96.00	$91.55	$1,277	+13.38
1405–1448	1419	80-85%	6	85.00–88.00	$86.15	$1,222	-2.11
1240–1470	1424	80-85%	5	73.00–84.00	$82.08	$1,169	-6.18
1340–1500	1433	80-85%	7	75.00–85.50	$82.61	$1,184	-5.65
1350–1479	1468	80-85%	16	97.00–103.25	$101.61	$1,492	+2.03

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1555	1555	75-80%	3	94.50	$94.50	$1,469	—
1515–1585	1562	75-80%	3	99.00–100.50	$99.49	$1,554	—
1618–1685	1640	75-80%	3	100.50	$100.50	$1,648	+7.40
1720	1720	75-80%	1	89.00	$89.00	$1,531	—
1785–1850	1818	75-80%	2	92.00–94.50	$93.27	$1,696	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1137–1800	1259	13	83.00–101.00	$89.64	$1,129	—
1462–1549	1509	13	110.00	$110.00	$1,660	—
1420–1850	1635	2	94.00–94.50	$94.28	$1,541	-1.87
1515–1960	1809	15	109.00–117.00	$112.83	$2,041	—
1843–2025	1904	3	119.00–126.00	$121.48	$2,313	+6.15

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
1000–1158	1072	(<2 yrs)	Open	13	109.00–143.00	$115.31	$1,236
898–1350	1075	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	36	84.00–106.00	$98.88	$1,063

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
840–1175	952	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	3	87.00–90.00	$88.77	$845
895–995	953	(<2 yrs)	Open	3	107.00–112.50	$109.23	$1,041

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1215–1337	1317	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	6	1,600.00–1,685.00	$1,613.07
1421–1438	1424	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	10	1,350.00–1,500.00	$1,469.71
1440–1536	1517	Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	5	1,300.00–1,500.00	$1,462.03

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1072 thin fleshed	1072	Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	5	885.00	$885.00

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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.