Billings Livestock Commission Cattle Auction Market Report

Billings, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Monday, October 14, 2024

1,476 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 $300.00/cwt +9.00 vs last sale · ≈ $1,536/hd at 512 lb · 33 head

heavy 4-weight M&L 1 heifers $297.43/cwt +27.43 vs last sale · ≈ $1,374/hd at 462 lb · 26 head

light 4-weight M&L 1-2 heifers $293.05/cwt +34.97 vs last sale · ≈ $1,286/hd at 439 lb · 19 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	1,476	992	1,145
Feeder cattle	395	490	551
Slaughter cattle	682	401	499
Replacement cattle	399	101	95

Market comments — USDA reporter

This is the first Monday sale of the fall. All feeder cattle were too lightly tested to develop any market trend. Quality today was mostly average. Demand was mostly moderate for light offerings. CME positions traded mixed today with weak prices seen on the nearby contracts and firm prices noticed on differed. Market activity was mostly moderate today. Weigh up cows comprised most of the market today. Demand for cows was mostly moderate to good for mostly moderate to heavy offerings. Slaughter cows sold mostly steady to 3.00 higher on all classes. Feeding cows sold mostly 2.00-5.00 higher. Good demand was seen for exposed cows as several order buyers showed interest in these offerings. Slaughter bulls sold mostly 3.00-5.00 higher in a narrow comparison. Weigh up conditions were mostly average to attractive to buyers. Younge cows suitable to feed or rebreed sold on mostly good demand. Quality was mostly average to attractive. Young age offerings sold mostly 10.00 higher.

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
288 unweaned	288	5	435.00	$435.00	$1,253	—
315 unweaned	315	4	405.00	$405.00	$1,276	—
364 unweaned	364	4	385.00	$385.00	$1,401	—
403–437 unweaned	428	18	330.00–342.50	$333.16	$1,426	—
488 unweaned	488	19	309.00	$309.00	$1,508	—
510–514 unweaned	512	33	300.00	$300.00	$1,536	—
550–599 unweaned	596	15	271.00–282.00	$271.68	$1,619	—
600–645 unweaned	611	9	254.00–267.00	$258.75	$1,581	—
682 unweaned	682	9	252.00	$252.00	$1,719	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
399 unweaned	399	4	345.00	$345.00	$1,377	—
437–438 unweaned	437	19	320.00–335.00	$324.74	$1,419	—
513–545 unweaned	540	13	284.00–286.00	$284.29	$1,535	—
595–598 unweaned	597	11	265.00–266.00	$265.18	$1,583	—
665 unweaned	665	3	246.00	$246.00	$1,636	—

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
592 unweaned	592	12	264.00	$264.00	$1,563	—

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
500–540 unweaned	520	4	285.00–287.00	$285.96	$1,487	—
652 unweaned	652	5	257.00	$257.00	$1,676	—

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
593 unweaned	593	2	250.00	$250.00	$1,482	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
256 unweaned	256	8	375.00	$375.00	$960	—
325 unweaned	325	5	337.50–355.00	$341.00	$1,108	—
350–383 unweaned	369	11	327.00–344.00	$331.41	$1,223	—
400–420 unweaned	406	7	312.50–335.00	$328.35	$1,333	—
455–477 unweaned	462	26	293.00–300.00	$297.43	$1,374	—
520–528 unweaned	525	14	276.00–285.00	$281.18	$1,476	—
955	955	2	198.00	$198.00	$1,891	—
956–995	968	7	215.00–216.00	$215.29	$2,084	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
378–389 unweaned	384	12	320.00–324.00	$322.36	$1,238	+50.36
405–448 unweaned	439	19	290.00–307.50	$293.05	$1,286	—
458–468 unweaned	466	16	276.00–285.00	$277.66	$1,294	—
561–590 unweaned	576	8	241.00–256.00	$248.69	$1,432	—
915	915	2	215.00	$215.00	$1,967	—

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
565 unweaned	565	2	231.00	$231.00	$1,305	—
1063–1095	1070	11	202.00–204.50	$203.91	$2,182	—
1105	1105	1	202.00	$202.00	$2,232	—
1205	1205	1	191.00	$191.00	$2,302	—

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
780	780	1	230.00	$230.00	$1,794	—
1090	1090	1	194.00	$194.00	$2,115	—

Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1145	1145	1	170.00	$170.00	$1,946	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
875	875	1	220.00	$220.00	$1,925	—

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Slaughter Cows

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
900	900	80-85%	1	109.00	$109.00	$981	—
1140–1680	1363	80-85%	3	114.00–119.00	$116.89	$1,593	+25.34
1305–1555	1379	80-85%	13	103.00–111.50	$107.75	$1,486	+16.20
1240–1630	1401	80-85%	252	119.00–134.00	$129.72	$1,817	+43.57
1290–1543	1441	80-85%	24	104.00–117.00	$111.95	$1,613	+29.34
1490	1490	80-85%	1	96.00	$96.00	$1,430	-5.61
1345–1635	1500	80-85%	40	135.00–139.00	$136.16	$2,042	—

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
850	850	85-90%	1	72.50	$72.50	$616	—
860–940	900	85-90%	2	88.00–95.00	$91.66	$825	—
1045–1415	1158	85-90%	47	90.00–108.00	$99.29	$1,150	+15.96
985–1345	1180	85-90%	43	101.00–115.00	$107.58	$1,269	+13.73
1133–1295	1184	85-90%	8	107.00–113.00	$108.63	$1,286	+14.78
1090–1291	1217	85-90%	90	117.00–128.00	$120.73	$1,469	—
1120–1275	1225	85-90%	15	127.00–135.00	$131.68	$1,613	—
1260–1353	1325	85-90%	5	80.00–90.00	$87.90	$1,165	—

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1515–1710	1560	75-80%	26	126.00–134.00	$132.95	$2,074	+33.46
1560	1560	75-80%	1	123.00	$123.00	$1,919	+23.51
1580	1580	75-80%	2	126.00	$126.00	$1,991	+26.51
1540–1632	1609	75-80%	6	135.00–136.00	$135.33	$2,177	+34.83
1640	1640	75-80%	1	129.00	$129.00	$2,116	+28.50

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1180–1260	1220	2	125.00–127.50	$126.21	$1,540	—
1315–1470	1393	2	144.00–145.00	$144.47	$2,012	—
1335–1595	1396	9	135.00–143.00	$138.79	$1,938	—
1380–2390	1879	11	143.00–150.00	$145.92	$2,742	—
1755–1995	1914	10	149.00–164.00	$158.52	$3,034	+37.04
2085	2085	1	176.00	$176.00	$3,670	—

YG2-3 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
2330	2330	1	162.00	$162.00	$3,775	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
855–1186	1035	(<2 yrs)	Open	64	160.00–221.00	$188.52	$1,951
912–1390	1108	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	67	132.50–192.50	$160.01	$1,773

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
1010–1080	1045	(<2 yrs)	Open	2	152.50–163.00	$157.93	$1,650

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
1375	1375	(<2 yrs)	Open	1	145.00	$145.00	$1,994

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
1134–1185 thin fleshed	1144	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	54	115.00–116.00	$115.21	$1,318
1220–1390	1277	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	89	119.00–121.00	$120.45	$1,538

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1127–1363	1164	Young (2-4 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	19	2,000.00–2,075.00	$2,061.14
1081–1305	1187	Young (2-4 yrs)	1st/2nd Stage (1-6 mo)	8	2,275.00–2,325.00	$2,281.61
1103–1294	1222	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	1st/2nd Stage (1-6 mo)	9	1,850.00–1,950.00	$1,910.87
1269–1320	1296	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	1st/2nd Stage (1-6 mo)	28	1,700.00–1,750.00	$1,725.42
1315	1315	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	1	1,750.00	$1,750.00

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Dairy Cows

N/N/A ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
995	995	85-90%	1	107.50	$107.50	$1,070	—

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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.