Miles City Livestock Commission Auction Market Report

Miles City, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Tuesday, April 20, 2021

1,948 head sold ·Official USDA report

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

light 6-weight M&L 1 heifers $154.51/cwt +4.15 vs last sale · ≈ $961/hd at 622 lb · 280 head

heavy 5-weight M&L 1 steers $182.54/cwt +3.70 vs last sale · ≈ $1,030/hd at 564 lb · 152 head

light 5-weight M&L 1 heifers $165.51/cwt +0.24 vs last sale · ≈ $877/hd at 530 lb · 112 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	1,948	1,276	1,819
Feeder cattle	1,551	994	1,534
Slaughter cattle	170	154	110
Replacement cattle	227	128	175

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Steers were all too lightly tested last week to develop an accurate market trend, however lower undertones were noticed. Heifers under 500 lbs were too lightly tested to develop an accurate market trend, however higher undertones were noticed. Heifers weighing over 500 lbs sold mostly steady to 4.00 higher. Quality today was average to attractive and better overall than last week. Feeder cattle were offered in mostly moderate size packages this week, with one load lot of steers on offer. A heavy offering of cutting bulls were on offer today as several load lots were on offer. Bulls sold on good to very good demand as quality was mostly attractive. CME positions traded mostly higher today. The April contract closed at 137.575, 0.15 lower while the May contract closed 0.30 higher at 142.775. The deferred contracts August through the end of 2021 closed 1.25 to 1.75 higher. Market activity was mostly moderate to active. Weigh up cows sold on mostly moderate demand for light offerings. Slaughter cows sold steady to 2.00 lower. Feeding cows sold fully steady. Feeding buyers were less aggressive on older, thinner cows this week which allowed packers to buy slaughter cows steady to lower. High quality feeding cows continue to sell on good demand as both packer and feeding cow buyers bid aggressively over light offerings. Slaughter bulls were too lightly tested to develop an accurate market trend, however lower undertones were noticed. Young age cows suitable to feed or rebreed sold generally steady. Very good demand was seen for a high quality reputation offering of 3 year old cows this week. Quality overall was 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
553–589	564	152	175.00–186.25	$182.54	$1,030	+0.96
603–646	618	64	162.00–172.00	$169.87	$1,050	-10.76
651–688	670	13	158.00–160.00	$159.09	$1,066	-7.64
733	733	5	144.00	$144.00	$1,056	-10.00
825	825	26	134.00	$134.00	$1,106	—
946	946	20	121.00	$121.00	$1,145	-7.00

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
435	435	3	183.00	$183.00	$796	-7.39
484	484	4	181.00	$181.00	$876	-6.07
507–529	510	43	171.00–174.00	$173.62	$885	-2.87
554–587	579	19	170.00–173.00	$171.35	$992	+4.35
630–646	643	11	156.00	$156.00	$1,003	-11.77
652–690	661	17	149.50–154.00	$152.89	$1,011	—

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
428	428	4	185.00	$185.00	$792	—
554	554	10	171.00	$171.00	$947	-5.50

Medium 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
405	405	4	183.00	$183.00	$741	—
490	490	10	175.00	$175.00	$858	—

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
765	765	3	136.00	$136.00	$1,040	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
421–433	424	11	171.00–179.50	$177.13	$751	+11.01
452	452	3	172.00	$172.00	$777	—
509–549	530	112	160.50–170.50	$165.51	$877	+0.24
550–588	570	82	158.00–163.50	$160.91	$917	+3.60
602–649	622	280	145.00–159.00	$154.51	$961	+4.15
669	669	11	141.50	$141.50	$947	+0.62
650–698	686	59	140.00–143.00	$141.93	$974	+1.05
700–705	705	61	138.50–143.50	$140.24	$989	+5.74
760	760	14	135.50	$135.50	$1,030	+1.75
759–770	765	15	133.00	$133.00	$1,017	-0.75
841	841	4	118.50	$118.50	$997	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
332	332	3	170.00	$170.00	$564	—
445	445	4	165.00	$165.00	$734	+5.20
450–488	479	4	158.00	$158.00	$757	-2.00
555–580	571	10	140.50–155.50	$149.06	$851	+2.90
614	614	4	136.00	$136.00	$835	—
664	664	7	135.00	$135.00	$896	+7.00
723	723	2	131.00	$131.00	$947	—
785–786	786	17	124.00–125.00	$124.82	$981	+3.82

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
735	735	10	133.00	$133.00	$978	—
784	784	86	132.00	$132.00	$1,035	—
862–871	867	105	129.75–131.50	$130.60	$1,132	—

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
725	725	13	129.00	$129.00	$935	—
839	839	7	126.50	$126.50	$1,061	—
1172	1172	3	91.00	$91.00	$1,067	-16.01

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
725	725	8	128.00	$128.00	$928	—
821	821	10	126.00	$126.00	$1,034	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
75	75	1	150.00	$150.00	—

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Slaughter Cows

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1100	1100	85-90%	1	70.00	$70.00	$770	+5.44
1065–1145	1105	85-90%	2	52.00–54.00	$52.96	$585	-11.60
1017–1275	1130	85-90%	11	67.00–69.50	$67.59	$764	+3.03
945–1255	1131	85-90%	30	60.00–66.50	$65.53	$741	+0.97
1155–1255	1196	85-90%	7	66.00–67.50	$67.00	$801	+0.11
995–1340	1212	85-90%	27	52.00–65.00	$58.83	$713	-4.23

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1253–1510	1357	80-85%	16	67.00–70.50	$69.01	$936	+0.07
1375–1475	1402	80-85%	6	71.00–71.50	$71.17	$998	+5.52
1290–1550	1414	80-85%	8	67.50–68.50	$67.61	$956	+1.96
1345–1510	1417	80-85%	5	65.50–66.50	$65.80	$932	+0.15
1385–1535	1463	80-85%	10	58.00–65.00	$62.64	$916	—
1505	1505	80-85%	1	73.00	$73.00	$1,099	—

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1488	1488	75-80%	3	70.50	$70.50	$1,049	—
1488–1540	1514	75-80%	2	67.00–68.00	$67.51	$1,022	-4.49
1425–1668	1570	75-80%	4	70.00–72.50	$71.05	$1,115	+0.37

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1340–1510	1447	3	73.00–82.00	$79.05	$1,144	—
1335–2190	1657	7	83.00–88.50	$85.79	$1,422	—
1890–2260	2099	4	93.00–95.00	$93.58	$1,964	—

YG2-3 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
2290	2290	1	81.50	$81.50	$1,866	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
718 thin fleshed	718	(<2 yrs)	Open	4	105.00	$105.00	$754
760–1275	938	(<2 yrs)	Open	99	82.00–108.00	$95.65	$897
870–1488	1090	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	65	67.00–102.50	$81.63	$890

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
765	765	(<2 yrs)	Open	1	82.50	$82.50	$631

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Cow-Calf Pairs

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
1345	1345	Aged (>8 yrs)	Open	4	1,100.00	$1,100.00	—

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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.