Miles City Livestock Commission Auction Market Report

Miles City, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Tuesday, October 20, 2020

3,525 head sold ·Official USDA report

This is an archived report. See the latest Miles City Livestock Commission Auction report →

light 4-weight M&L 1 steers $165.73/cwt -11.18 vs last sale · ≈ $714/hd at 431 lb · 223 head

light 5-weight M&L 1 steers $151.20/cwt -12.34 vs last sale · ≈ $789/hd at 522 lb · 216 head

heavy 4-weight M&L 1 steers $147.78/cwt -22.45 vs last sale · ≈ $721/hd at 488 lb · 172 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	3,525	3,485	4,889
Feeder cattle	2,265	2,546	3,739
Slaughter cattle	960	542	350
Replacement cattle	300	397	800

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Yearling steers and heifers were too lightly tested to develop any market trend. Unweaned steer calves weighing less than 400 lbs sold Steady to firm. 400-649 lbs sold 10.00-20.00 lower. Yearling heifers were too lightly tested to develop an accurate market trend, however lower undertones were noticed. Unweaned heifer calves under 400 lbs sold fully steady; over 400 lbs sold 2.00-4.00 lower. Demand for all feeder cattle was light to moderate. Quality this week was average to attractive. Calves continue to sell out of extremely dry country and are light fleshed and lightweight as a result. CME positions sold off sharply early in the week and buyers adjusted prices to fit lower breakeven reflective of lower live cattle contracts. This coupled with higher grain prices created sharply lower prices this week. Calves preconditioned with two rounds sold with the best demand and sold with an $8.00-10.00 premium over calves with only spring vaccinations. Market activity was mostly slow to moderate today despite a large crowd and many buyers ringside. Weigh up cows sold on mostly light to moderate demand for heavy offerings. Cow quality this week was mostly average and better overall compared to last week. Many cows continue to be in very thin to thin flesh. Feeding cows sold mostly 2.00-4.00 lower on breaking flesh cows and steady to 2.00 higher on boning and lean cows. Slaughter cows sold steady to firm. Yielding conditions were slightly better this week and cows offered buyers better weigh up conditions as well. Slaughter bulls were too lightly tested to develop an accurate market trend, steady undertones were noticed. 2-3 year old cows suitable to rebreed sold mostly 5.00 lower. Quality was plain to average.

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
280 unweaned	280	2	215.00	$215.00	$602	—
311–349 unweaned	329	71	200.00–215.00	$206.36	$679	-1.71
356–388 unweaned	366	84	176.00–208.00	$192.61	$705	+12.62
400–447 unweaned	431	223	161.00–175.00	$165.73	$714	-12.70
451–499 unweaned	488	172	146.00–156.00	$147.78	$721	-22.45
518	518	76	156.50	$156.50	$811	-8.50
515–539 unweaned	524	140	144.00–152.00	$148.33	$777	-14.84
550–553 unweaned	553	32	141.00–146.00	$144.19	$797	-9.12
601–611 unweaned	607	31	132.00–134.00	$133.23	$809	-9.19
669 unweaned	669	4	128.00	$128.00	$856	-17.17
920	920	3	130.00	$130.00	$1,196	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
258 unweaned	258	3	190.00	$190.00	$490	—
316–344 unweaned	330	12	175.00–192.50	$186.42	$615	—
368–378 unweaned	372	18	174.00–182.50	$177.83	$662	+9.83
433–444 unweaned	438	11	144.00–166.00	$155.86	$683	-10.62
473–480 unweaned	475	35	141.50–145.00	$142.67	$678	-17.72
521–541 unweaned	538	46	124.00–142.00	$132.46	$713	-17.94
595 unweaned	595	7	126.00	$126.00	$750	—
708–727	717	13	130.00–133.50	$131.18	$941	-12.82
770–798	778	7	126.00–132.00	$129.96	$1,011	—

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
382 unweaned	382	16	154.00	$154.00	$588	-16.50
520 unweaned	520	3	125.00	$125.00	$650	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
290 unweaned	290	14	145.00	$145.00	$420	—
327–349 unweaned	342	40	155.00–157.00	$156.52	$535	+0.02
351–394 unweaned	376	103	153.00–157.00	$155.34	$584	+0.22
404–442 unweaned	425	145	144.00–151.75	$147.08	$625	-3.93
450–494 unweaned	479	160	137.50–142.50	$141.10	$676	-3.52
501–533 unweaned	514	91	132.00–136.50	$135.06	$694	-4.78
552–576 unweaned	555	41	124.00–126.50	$125.92	$699	-10.83
823–832	828	25	129.50–130.00	$129.72	$1,074	-3.78
851–896	881	29	120.50–125.50	$123.64	$1,089	—
908–927	922	8	119.50–121.00	$120.63	$1,112	-9.37

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
343 unweaned	343	17	152.00	$152.00	$521	—
350–390 unweaned	379	34	142.00–147.00	$145.31	$551	—
404–438 unweaned	413	17	135.00–140.00	$136.91	$565	-6.00
534–540 unweaned	536	7	125.00–126.50	$126.07	$676	—
550 unweaned	550	2	116.00	$116.00	$638	—
752–786	763	19	122.00–126.00	$124.67	$951	-8.33
825	825	1	122.00	$122.00	$1,006	—
877	877	5	120.50	$120.50	$1,057	—
907	907	3	117.00	$117.00	$1,061	-7.50

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
455 unweaned	455	2	135.00	$135.00	$614	+8.19
986	986	11	112.00	$112.00	$1,104	—

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
432–436 unweaned	435	10	130.50–132.00	$131.55	$572	—

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
525 unweaned	525	8	110.00	$110.00	$578	—

Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
269 unweaned	269	4	127.50	$127.50	$343	—

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
417 unweaned	417	3	152.50	$152.50	$636	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
385 unweaned	385	1	181.00	$181.00	$697	—

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Slaughter Cows

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
830–975	916	85-90%	8	31.00–43.00	$38.69	$354	—
945–975	963	85-90%	3	50.00–53.00	$51.01	$491	+8.31
900–999	967	85-90%	31	44.00–49.00	$46.11	$446	+3.41
1000–1325	1100	85-90%	23	34.00–44.50	$40.76	$448	-5.84
1003–1345	1118	85-90%	139	44.25–49.50	$46.49	$520	-0.11
1000–1305	1178	85-90%	138	48.50–55.50	$50.85	$599	-16.65
1065–1360	1183	85-90%	57	52.00–62.00	$55.41	$656	-12.09
1150–1245	1198	85-90%	4	64.00–65.00	$64.52	$773	+8.58
1125–1270	1225	85-90%	37	48.00–51.00	$49.56	$607	-1.67

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1285–1320	1303	80-85%	2	53.00–54.50	$53.76	$700	-10.61
1363–1375	1365	80-85%	25	50.50–52.00	$51.82	$707	-7.89
1105–1458	1377	80-85%	48	52.00–62.50	$58.75	$809	-0.96
1285–1550	1377	80-85%	6	48.00–50.00	$48.69	$670	-11.02
1165–1555	1385	80-85%	13	63.00–67.50	$64.82	$898	+5.11

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1400–1545	1473	75-80%	2	63.00	$63.00	$928	—
1493	1493	75-80%	2	69.50	$69.50	$1,038	—
1335–1685	1526	75-80%	12	64.00–69.50	$66.58	$1,016	—
1565	1565	75-80%	1	69.00	$69.00	$1,080	+9.50

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1170–1180	1175	2	63.00–66.50	$64.76	$761	—
1355–2065	1635	12	63.50–73.50	$69.53	$1,137	—
1825	1825	1	83.50	$83.50	$1,524	+14.08
1615–1928	1842	7	75.50–81.00	$77.52	$1,428	+8.10

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
800–1040 thin fleshed	916	(<2 yrs)	Open	5	61.00–75.00	$66.73	$611
825–1070	916	(<2 yrs)	Open	68	70.00–90.00	$80.92	$741
855–1140	982	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	87	60.00–81.50	$71.64	$704

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Bred Cows

Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1086	1086	Young (2-4 yrs)	1st/2nd Stage (1-6 mo)	13	900.00	$900.00
1246	1246	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	1st/2nd Stage (1-6 mo)	24	850.00	$850.00
1286	1286	Aged (>8 yrs)	1st/2nd Stage (1-6 mo)	9	835.00	$835.00

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
943	943	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	5	1,200.00	$1,200.00
1112	1112	Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	8	900.00	$900.00
1363	1363	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	2	950.00	$950.00

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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.