Bluegrass Stockyard Market Report

Mt. Sterling, Kentucky · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Wednesday, December 7, 2022

661 head sold ·Official USDA report

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

light 6-weight M&L 1-2 steers $158.48/cwt +2.74 vs last sale · ≈ $978/hd at 617 lb · 38 head

heavy 5-weight M&L 1-2 heifers $145.63/cwt +0.50 vs last sale · ≈ $816/hd at 560 lb · 30 head

light 6-weight M&L 1-2 heifers $143.12/cwt +4.16 vs last sale · ≈ $876/hd at 612 lb · 28 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	661	1,122	1,084
Feeder cattle	485	892	976
Slaughter cattle	128	185	85
Replacement cattle	48	45	23

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last Wednesday steer and heifer calves sold steady to 2.00 lower with moderate to good demand. Yearlings lightly tested. Slaughter cows sold steady with good demand. Slaughter bulls sold 2.00 to 4.00 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
365	365	1	183.00	$183.00	$668	+3.71
425	425	2	169.00	$169.00	$718	-0.02
400–447 value added	434	17	170.00–185.00	$174.63	$758	-19.65
461–475 value added	467	5	170.00–175.00	$172.04	$803	-5.46
460–485	469	5	160.00–169.00	$165.20	$775	+1.20
500–518	511	10	159.00–172.50	$164.04	$838	+4.04
500–544 value added	527	15	164.00–177.50	$172.29	$908	-2.36
550–593 value added	561	16	163.00–173.00	$167.27	$938	+2.31
550–590	575	6	153.00–165.00	$157.91	$908	-2.09
600–626 value added	610	30	154.50–164.50	$162.48	$991	+1.47
640–645	643	8	142.00–148.00	$143.49	$923	-5.41
665–675	672	6	142.00–155.00	$149.09	$1,002	—
701–709 value added	706	15	156.00–161.00	$157.65	$1,113	-7.35
710	710	1	145.00	$145.00	$1,030	+3.00
760	760	1	146.00	$146.00	$1,110	+10.04
827 value added	827	2	152.00	$152.00	$1,257	—
1090	1090	1	134.00	$134.00	$1,461	—
1105	1105	1	128.00	$128.00	$1,414	—

Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
615–630	619	4	131.00–146.00	$141.93	$879	-3.51
680	680	3	150.00	$150.00	$1,020	+5.00
715–730	723	4	135.00–140.00	$137.47	$994	—

Medium and Large 2-3 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
185	185	1	150.00	$150.00	$278	—
235	235	1	170.00	$170.00	$400	—
340	340	1	145.00	$145.00	$493	+5.00
427	427	2	150.00	$150.00	$640	—
555–585	570	2	140.00–146.00	$143.08	$816	—
625	625	1	136.00	$136.00	$850	-8.00

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
307 value added	307	2	152.50	$152.50	$468	-10.00
372–395	381	9	146.00–149.00	$147.52	$562	+2.90
415–440	425	5	139.00–147.00	$142.78	$607	-0.05
425–440 value added	434	5	154.00	$154.00	$668	+1.23
470–471 value added	471	6	147.00–151.00	$150.33	$708	-2.81
470–497	489	9	136.00–145.00	$140.24	$686	+2.10
515–545 value added	524	10	148.00–151.50	$149.85	$785	-2.28
525–543	533	11	135.00–143.50	$140.06	$747	-2.37
553–562	555	24	140.00–145.00	$144.04	$799	+2.91
580 value added	580	6	152.00	$152.00	$882	+2.61
600–615	605	3	132.00–138.00	$134.03	$811	-3.48
600–633 value added	613	25	143.00–145.00	$144.21	$884	+4.05
651 value added	651	3	140.00	$140.00	$911	-3.25
700 value added	700	7	145.50	$145.50	$1,018	—

Medium and Large 2-3 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
280	280	1	137.50	$137.50	$385	+3.63
375–395	382	3	111.00–135.00	$122.31	$467	-10.22
400–440	423	11	110.00–137.50	$130.69	$553	+1.77
450–492	477	6	120.00–134.00	$127.94	$610	+1.91
500–545	516	11	110.00–132.00	$124.17	$641	-5.15
560–577	568	7	102.50–110.00	$106.15	$603	-21.98
630	630	1	114.00	$114.00	$718	-7.00
650–685	660	4	109.00–123.00	$113.86	$751	-2.85
740	740	1	111.00	$111.00	$821	+1.40

Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
480	480	1	134.00	$134.00	$643	-4.00
606–630	612	4	133.00	$133.00	$814	+8.66
755	755	1	116.00	$116.00	$876	—

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
275	275	1	160.00	$160.00	$440	±0.00
325–335	330	2	142.50–152.50	$147.58	$487	-21.04
365–390	378	2	150.00–172.50	$161.62	$611	-8.78
417–440	425	3	150.00–156.00	$153.93	$654	-3.27
460–488	477	5	151.00	$151.00	$720	-10.79
476–492 value added	482	7	158.00–171.00	$164.63	$794	-6.03
502–530	519	5	142.00–154.00	$147.04	$763	-2.53
530 value added	530	1	162.00	$162.00	$859	-2.18
550 value added	550	1	157.00	$157.00	$864	—
565–582	576	3	138.00–139.00	$138.67	$799	-8.66
600–630	610	8	129.00–136.00	$134.09	$818	-0.99
680	680	2	135.00	$135.00	$918	+5.11
705–747	721	7	124.00–128.00	$125.74	$907	+1.62
755	755	1	121.00	$121.00	$914	+0.65
870	870	1	116.00	$116.00	$1,009	—

Medium and Large 2-3 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
295	295	1	130.00	$130.00	$384	-16.49
310	310	1	140.00	$140.00	$434	-9.77
355–385	370	2	137.00–137.50	$137.24	$508	-5.08
405–425	417	3	130.00–142.00	$135.59	$565	+3.09
455–485	470	2	132.00–140.00	$136.13	$640	-0.87
500–545	525	3	121.00–133.00	$127.84	$671	-3.38
570	570	2	135.00	$135.00	$770	+1.00
620–645	632	5	110.00–124.00	$119.56	$756	-2.90
675–695	685	2	108.00–120.00	$113.91	$780	-1.09
700–705	703	2	115.00	$115.00	$808	—
980	980	1	92.00	$92.00	$902	+3.00
1055	1055	1	81.00	$81.00	$855	—

Small 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
405–425	415	2	121.00–125.00	$123.05	$511	-3.95
455	455	1	110.00	$110.00	$500	-6.52
510–535	518	3	97.50–107.50	$100.94	$523	-11.54
625–645	633	3	102.00–106.00	$104.33	$660	+1.33

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
980–1130	1018	(<2 yrs)	N/A	4	1,065.00–1,200.00	$1,102.48	—

Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
337	337	2	145.00	$145.00	$489	—
550	550	1	141.00	$141.00	$776	—

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Slaughter Cows

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1010–1420	1259	80-85%	16	61.00–63.00	$61.96	$780	—
915–1505	1261	80-85%	19	64.00–72.00	$66.83	$843	—
1200–1590	1343	80-85%	12	73.50–86.00	$78.58	$1,055	+0.89

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1130–1820	1370	75-80%	18	64.50–71.00	$67.86	$930	—
1160–1605	1391	75-80%	7	74.00–85.00	$77.79	$1,082	—
1425–1625	1525	75-80%	2	58.00–61.50	$59.86	$913	—

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
815–1280	998	85-90%	9	55.00–62.00	$58.00	$579	—
890–1120	1020	85-90%	9	62.50–67.00	$64.15	$654	+15.50
1045–1345	1182	85-90%	5	44.00–54.50	$48.91	$578	-23.03
1225	1225	85-90%	1	74.00	$74.00	$906	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1310–1445	1393	3	70.00–85.00	$76.75	$1,069	—
1480–2090	1844	7	90.50–101.50	$96.05	$1,771	—
1545–2245	1891	9	102.00–113.50	$106.46	$2,013	—

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
900–1415	1093	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	7	825.00–1,125.00	$1,003.92
1030–1280	1196	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	4	925.00–1,175.00	$1,004.81

Medium and Large 2-3 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
855–1180	1036	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	7	600.00–775.00	$702.84
1035–1040	1038	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	2	635.00–660.00	$647.47
945–1210	1078	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	2	725.00–800.00	$757.89

Small 2-3 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
880–925	903	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	2	550.00	$550.00

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Cow-Calf Pairs

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
1135–1675	1401	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	Open	4	1,075.00–1,325.00	$1,220.03	—

Medium and Large 2-3 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
900–1360	1155	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	Open	3	850.00–950.00	$898.34	—

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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.