Bluegrass Stockyard Market Report

Mt. Sterling, Kentucky · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Wednesday, October 20, 2021

715 head sold ·Official USDA report

This is an archived report. See the latest Bluegrass Stockyard report →

light 7-weight M&L 1-2 heifers $133.01/cwt +19.27 vs last sale · ≈ $984/hd at 740 lb · 46 head

light 7-weight M&L 1-2 steers $145.02/cwt +5.43 vs last sale · ≈ $1,063/hd at 733 lb · 35 head

light 5-weight M&L 1-2 heifers $129.34/cwt +1.56 vs last sale · ≈ $672/hd at 520 lb · 25 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	715	559	621
Feeder cattle	522	462	492
Slaughter cattle	102	53	64
Replacement cattle	91	44	65

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week feeder steers sold 2.00 to 5.00 higher with good demand; very good demand for tight 5-weights. Feeder heifers sold 2.00 to 4.00 lower with moderate demand. Slaughter cows sold steady with light demand. Slaughter bulls sold steady to 3.00 lower with moderate demand.

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
285	285	1	172.50	$172.50	$492	—
377	377	2	159.00	$159.00	$599	-0.90
400–430	409	5	147.00–150.00	$149.18	$610	-10.27
400–432 value added	417	5	159.00–172.50	$164.01	$684	—
465–475	470	5	156.00–160.00	$157.81	$742	+12.45
450–491 value added	474	10	159.00–165.00	$163.29	$774	—
510 value added	510	1	157.00	$157.00	$801	+4.52
500–530	514	11	146.00–156.00	$149.94	$771	+8.46
550	550	1	141.00	$141.00	$776	+1.43
560–595	588	6	144.00–145.00	$144.17	$848	+4.60
600–647 value added	616	21	140.00–152.50	$146.66	$903	—
647	647	2	139.00	$139.00	$899	+1.14
655–680	671	5	135.00–138.00	$136.40	$915	-2.14
726–740 value added	733	34	144.00–148.00	$145.29	$1,065	—
735	735	1	136.00	$136.00	$1,000	-3.59
827	827	2	135.50	$135.50	$1,121	+4.50

Medium and Large 2-3 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
345	345	1	145.00	$145.00	$500	+20.12
465–470	468	2	130.00–137.00	$133.52	$625	-0.97
528	528	4	134.00	$134.00	$708	+12.98
600–635	619	8	125.00–134.00	$130.79	$810	+4.79
725	725	1	129.00	$129.00	$935	+23.00

Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
580–585	582	3	136.00–147.00	$143.31	$834	—
675	675	1	134.00	$134.00	$904	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
225	225	1	124.00	$124.00	$279	-13.50
255–295	283	4	132.00–137.50	$134.81	$382	-3.63
332–335	334	4	125.00–132.00	$129.25	$432	-4.55
365–397	386	6	122.50–132.00	$128.74	$497	-2.59
400–440	426	16	123.00–131.00	$128.66	$548	-3.42
465–495	477	8	123.00–132.00	$128.06	$611	-1.19
500–530	506	5	121.00–127.00	$125.42	$635	-2.36
503–537 value added	523	20	129.00–136.00	$130.32	$682	—
555–570 value added	565	3	129.00	$129.00	$729	—
555–595	577	11	124.00–128.00	$125.55	$724	-3.72
605–627 value added	620	3	130.00–132.00	$130.65	$810	—
615–645	633	4	123.00–129.00	$126.47	$801	+2.43
680–685	682	3	123.00	$123.00	$839	+2.41
720–745	732	5	115.00–122.00	$118.80	$870	+5.06
737	737	5	118.50	$118.50	$873	+4.76
741 value added	741	36	137.00	$137.00	$1,015	—
750–796	787	5	111.00–111.50	$111.40	$877	-3.60
845	845	1	92.00	$92.00	$777	—

Medium and Large 2-3 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
406	406	3	134.00	$134.00	$544	+13.49
465–495	485	4	115.00–123.00	$118.31	$574	+0.31
500–528	521	4	110.00–116.00	$114.56	$597	-1.34
600	600	2	108.00	$108.00	$648	-2.00
652	652	8	98.00	$98.00	$639	-4.00

Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
300	300	1	125.00	$125.00	$375	—
427	427	4	126.00	$126.00	$538	—
600	600	1	120.00	$120.00	$720	—

Small 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
410	410	1	109.00	$109.00	$447	—
540	540	1	101.00	$101.00	$545	—

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
315	315	1	157.50	$157.50	$496	+16.55
375	375	1	158.00	$158.00	$592	+21.92
380 fancy	380	1	170.00	$170.00	$646	—
400–447 fancy	411	9	154.00–162.50	$157.00	$645	—
415	415	1	143.00	$143.00	$593	+5.79
455–492	469	6	144.00–146.00	$145.35	$682	+3.85
485 fancy	485	3	151.00	$151.00	$732	—
500–525	513	2	136.00–142.00	$138.93	$713	+3.44
510–545 fancy	524	5	147.00–150.50	$149.04	$781	—
550–590	575	16	130.00–146.00	$141.12	$811	+10.20
615–620 fancy	618	2	135.00	$135.00	$834	—
655–657 fancy	656	3	132.00–134.00	$133.33	$875	—
655–680	660	13	120.00–132.00	$127.76	$843	+3.46
700	700	1	121.00	$121.00	$847	-4.00
750–792	784	7	103.00–111.50	$110.22	$864	+0.22
815–840	828	2	95.00–102.00	$98.45	$815	-5.55
855–880	868	2	99.00–102.00	$100.52	$873	-8.58

Medium and Large 2-3 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
305–330	320	4	132.50–141.00	$137.82	$441	+7.82
435	435	1	130.00	$130.00	$566	+9.03
450	450	1	132.50	$132.50	$596	+3.50
500–510	506	5	126.00–133.00	$128.77	$652	+7.29
575	575	7	129.00	$129.00	$742	+16.00
825	825	1	91.00	$91.00	$751	—

Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
431	431	3	135.00	$135.00	$582	—
600	600	1	136.00	$136.00	$816	—
865–895	885	3	81.00–93.00	$84.91	$751	—

Small 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
275	275	1	125.00	$125.00	$344	—
505	505	1	101.00	$101.00	$510	—

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Slaughter Cows

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1010–1385	1195	80-85%	11	52.50–56.00	$54.41	$650	—
1080–1360	1263	80-85%	3	45.00–52.00	$47.89	$605	-6.06
1115–1490	1306	80-85%	12	57.00–65.50	$58.92	$769	—

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1005–1715	1375	75-80%	7	54.00–55.50	$54.79	$753	—
1240–1970	1574	75-80%	12	57.00–65.50	$59.97	$944	—

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
890–1105	1015	85-90%	3	54.00–58.00	$56.04	$569	—
780–1160	1040	85-90%	10	42.00–47.50	$45.07	$469	—
975–1325	1169	85-90%	5	47.50–51.00	$48.70	$569	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1525	1525	1	76.00	$76.00	$1,159	—
1430–2360	1801	10	80.00–91.00	$87.58	$1,577	—
1590–2140	1888	5	92.00–102.00	$95.81	$1,809	—

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
885–1245	1065	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	2	910.00–960.00	$939.23
1050–1406	1261	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	28	850.00–1,100.00	$1,000.29
1185–1308	1277	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	4	1,035.00–1,060.00	$1,054.20

Medium and Large 2-3 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
840–1355	1123	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	10	625.00–825.00	$746.07
1137–1432	1237	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	7	775.00–835.00	$798.45
1125–1345	1246	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	4	635.00–775.00	$683.00

Small 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1065	1065	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	1	500.00	$500.00

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Bred Heifers

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
900	900	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	1	875.00	$875.00

Medium and Large 2-3 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
935	935	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	1	775.00	$775.00

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Cow-Calf Pairs

Medium and Large 2-3 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
1070	1070	Aged (>8 yrs)	Open	1	825.00	$825.00	—
1020–1250	1135	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	Open	2	750.00	$750.00	—
1280–1295	1288	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	Open	2	860.00–1,100.00	$980.70	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
1285–1565	1392	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	Open	3	1,100.00–1,185.00	$1,150.33	+18.56

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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.