La Junta Livestock Commision Market Report

La Junta, Colorado · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Wednesday, December 20, 2023

2,163 head sold ·Official USDA report

This is an archived report. See the latest La Junta Livestock Commision report →

light 5-weight M&L 1-2 steers $254.65/cwt -0.35 vs last sale · ≈ $1,319/hd at 518 lb · 67 head

heavy 6-weight M&L 1 steers $234.84/cwt ≈ $1,550/hd at 660 lb · 58 head

light 5-weight M&L 1 heifers $238.55/cwt -1.37 vs last sale · ≈ $1,264/hd at 530 lb · 50 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	2,163	2,845	1,202
Feeder cattle	1,346	2,641	982
Slaughter cattle	450	182	220
Replacement cattle	367	22	0

Market comments — USDA reporter

Trade activity and demand was good. Feeder steers under 450lbs sold sharply higher. Feeder steers over 450lbs sold steady. Feeder heifers under 550lbs sold 3.00 lower and feeder heifers over 550lbs sold mostly 1.00 to 5.00 higher. Slaughter cows of average dressing sold 1.00 higher across all weight classes. Slaughter bulls sold 2.00 lower. The next feeder calf and slaughter cow sale will be January 10, 2024.

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
263 thin fleshed	263	2	312.00	$312.00	$821	—
289	289	5	301.00	$301.00	$870	—
313	313	3	291.00	$291.00	$911	-1.41
351	351	5	301.00	$301.00	$1,057	+5.00
468–479	477	11	261.00–265.00	$261.71	$1,248	-8.05
458–493 thin fleshed	486	10	270.00–272.00	$271.62	$1,320	—
501–545	518	67	250.00–261.00	$254.65	$1,319	-0.35
557–595	585	17	230.00–243.00	$239.14	$1,399	+2.94
610–645	632	42	227.00–239.00	$232.30	$1,468	-4.70
675	675	2	224.00	$224.00	$1,512	—
709–749	738	19	208.00–209.00	$208.25	$1,537	—
777	777	10	193.00	$193.00	$1,500	+2.00
818	818	2	189.00	$189.00	$1,546	—
906	906	4	187.00	$187.00	$1,694	—
1040	1040	20	166.00	$166.00	$1,726	—
1338	1338	3	123.00	$123.00	$1,646	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
327–341 thin fleshed	334	20	300.00–301.00	$300.51	$1,004	—
368–380	370	10	315.00	$315.00	$1,166	—
384 value added	384	5	331.00	$331.00	$1,271	—
415–423	421	10	324.00–330.00	$328.82	$1,384	+31.59
453	453	2	280.00	$280.00	$1,268	-0.10
514	514	18	270.00	$270.00	$1,388	-5.00
563	563	2	250.00	$250.00	$1,408	-9.10
603–607 value added	604	24	255.00–260.00	$258.74	$1,563	—
605–638	629	20	243.00–251.00	$248.57	$1,564	—
656–660	660	58	234.00–241.00	$234.84	$1,550	—
701	701	4	221.00	$221.00	$1,549	—
799	799	12	203.00	$203.00	$1,622	-1.08
800–847	836	19	193.00–199.00	$195.86	$1,637	-1.45
875	875	14	187.00	$187.00	$1,636	-4.87

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
329	329	8	251.00	$251.00	$826	-20.00
418–446	425	35	251.00–260.00	$253.43	$1,077	-3.96
455–495	463	23	236.00–256.00	$241.60	$1,119	-7.52
608–621	619	13	211.00–218.00	$212.06	$1,313	-4.62
690	690	3	211.00	$211.00	$1,456	+10.64
783	783	2	181.00	$181.00	$1,417	—
805	805	1	151.00	$151.00	$1,216	—

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
493	493	4	249.00	$249.00	$1,228	+1.51
656	656	7	193.00	$193.00	$1,266	—

Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
385	385	2	260.00	$260.00	$1,001	—
401	401	5	246.00	$246.00	$986	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
405	405	10	257.00	$257.00	$1,041	-8.20
501–536	530	50	236.00–239.00	$238.55	$1,264	-1.37
551 value added	551	7	225.00	$225.00	$1,240	—
570	570	9	222.00	$222.00	$1,265	-11.00
603–605	603	14	214.00–218.00	$217.14	$1,309	—
626 thin fleshed	626	5	225.00	$225.00	$1,408	—
710–739	728	29	193.00–201.00	$197.24	$1,436	+1.47
917	917	24	165.00	$165.00	$1,513	—

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
289–295	292	8	238.00–253.00	$245.42	$717	—
329–334	332	10	251.00–255.00	$252.98	$840	-1.84
373–395	381	8	226.00–250.00	$240.68	$917	-4.18
431	431	11	220.00	$220.00	$948	-6.21
455	455	5	216.00	$216.00	$983	-11.40
500–545	520	37	211.00–225.00	$218.29	$1,135	+2.32
554–567	560	7	196.00–208.00	$202.79	$1,136	+1.79
628	628	2	203.00	$203.00	$1,275	+8.77
673	673	4	191.00	$191.00	$1,285	-5.49
784–797	792	14	171.00–172.00	$171.65	$1,359	-4.35
813	813	6	171.00	$171.00	$1,390	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
411–435 thin fleshed	418	7	251.00–253.00	$252.41	$1,055	—
416–432	426	12	233.00–241.00	$238.97	$1,018	-10.11
451–498	458	14	230.00–231.00	$230.65	$1,056	-5.35
501–512	504	20	229.00	$229.00	$1,154	-2.95
576	576	16	220.00	$220.00	$1,267	+4.81
623–638	629	17	207.00–213.00	$210.87	$1,326	+0.96
774–778	776	12	181.00–183.00	$182.17	$1,414	-8.83

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
320	320	2	263.00	$263.00	$842	—
353–358	355	5	243.00	$243.00	$863	+17.00
460	460	3	227.00	$227.00	$1,044	+1.00
530	530	6	233.00	$233.00	$1,235	+12.00
565	565	5	216.00	$216.00	$1,220	+11.00
623	623	3	192.00	$192.00	$1,196	—
848	848	4	161.00	$161.00	$1,365	—

Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
326	326	7	236.00	$236.00	$769	—
493	493	13	206.00	$206.00	$1,016	—
526	526	7	211.00	$211.00	$1,110	—

Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
383	383	6	232.00	$232.00	$889	—
455	455	4	222.00	$222.00	$1,010	—

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Slaughter Cows

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
700	700	85-90%	4	56.00	$56.00	$392	—
705–1280	958	85-90%	62	61.00–82.00	$73.65	$706	-4.66
855–1285	1064	85-90%	54	90.00–96.00	$91.05	$969	—
780–1275	1103	85-90%	200	83.00–89.50	$86.52	$954	-1.22
1030–1228	1151	85-90%	5	97.00–101.00	$97.72	$1,125	+6.72

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1305	1305	80-85%	1	101.00	$101.00	$1,318	+14.33
1298–1390	1318	80-85%	17	86.00–90.00	$87.11	$1,148	+0.44
1361–1381	1369	80-85%	10	82.00–85.00	$83.21	$1,139	+0.57
1325–1498	1457	80-85%	38	91.00–99.25	$95.08	$1,385	—

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1580–1690	1635	75-80%	2	86.00–90.00	$88.07	$1,440	—
1505–1681	1670	75-80%	16	96.00–98.50	$98.36	$1,643	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1035–1825	1453	6	91.00–100.00	$95.72	$1,391	—
1125–2005	1698	11	101.00–107.00	$101.63	$1,726	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
650–725	683	(<2 yrs)	Open	4	121.00–146.00	$128.93	$881
740–1135	951	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	177	120.00–148.00	$135.38	$1,287

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
670–1114	907	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	131	150.00–171.00	$156.46	$1,419

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
735	735	(<2 yrs)	Open	1	112.50	$112.50	$827
745–1298	1069	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	22	101.00–116.00	$110.20	$1,178

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1150–1250	1200	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	2	1,210.00–1,325.00	$1,265.10
1235–1335	1285	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	2	1,225.00–1,325.00	$1,276.95
1298	1298	Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	10	1,260.00	$1,260.00
1325	1325	Aged (>8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	1	1,310.00	$1,310.00
1448	1448	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	2	1,435.00	$1,435.00

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1020–1038	1026	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	3	1,325.00–1,450.00	$1,367.15
1075	1075	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	1	1,500.00	$1,500.00
1488	1488	Aged (>8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	2	1,575.00	$1,575.00
1575	1575	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	1	1,460.00	$1,460.00
1665	1665	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	2	1,575.00	$1,575.00

Medium and Large 2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1077	1077	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	3	1,125.00	$1,125.00

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Bred Heifers

Medium and Large 2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
710	710	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	2	460.00	$460.00

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
895	895	Young (2-4 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	1	1,200.00	$1,200.00

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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.