Miles City Livestock Commission Auction Market Report

Miles City, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Tuesday, April 27, 2021

1,337 head sold ·Official USDA report

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

heavy 7-weight M&L 1 heifers $131.67/cwt -2.54 vs last sale · ≈ $1,011/hd at 768 lb · 132 head

light 6-weight M&L 1 heifers $155.62/cwt +1.11 vs last sale · ≈ $948/hd at 609 lb · 72 head

light 8-weight M&L 1 heifers $122.67/cwt +4.17 vs last sale · ≈ $1,018/hd at 830 lb · 29 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	1,337	1,948	2,163
Feeder cattle	678	1,551	1,663
Slaughter cattle	271	170	128
Replacement cattle	388	227	372

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Steers were all too lightly tested to develop an accurate market trend, however lower undertones were noticed on a lower quality offering. Heifers sold fully steady. Steer quality was mostly plain to average while heifer quality was average to attractive. Demand for feeder cattle was mostly moderate for light offerings. Feeder cattle were offered in mostly small to moderate size packages or as singles today; no load lots were on offer. Despite sharply higher corn prices and lower feeder cattle prices demand for feeder cattle today remained similar to last week. Most of the offerings this week were purchased to go to grass. Market activity was mostly moderate to active. Weigh up cows sold on mostly moderate demand and offerings. Slaughter and feeding cows both sold fully steady. High quality feeding cows continue to sell with the best demand as both packer and feeding cow buyers bid aggressively over offerings. Weigh up conditions were mostly below average this week as cows and bulls were pushing heavy amounts of fill. Slaughter bulls sold fully steady. Young age cows suitable to feed or rebreed sold mostly 5.00-8.00 lower. Lighter demand was seen this week as sharply higher corn prices has curbed feeding demand. Quality overall was average to attractive.

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
489	489	8	183.00	$183.00	$895	+2.00
517–533	522	7	167.00–174.00	$171.96	$898	-1.66
578	578	6	165.00	$165.00	$954	-6.35
600–640	628	16	144.00–155.00	$152.70	$959	-3.30
695	695	2	139.00	$139.00	$966	-13.89

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
566–573	568	7	170.00	$170.00	$966	-12.54
605–630	615	7	159.00–169.00	$164.40	$1,011	-5.47
653	653	2	152.00	$152.00	$993	-7.09
884	884	8	124.00	$124.00	$1,096	—

Medium 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
436	436	8	163.00	$163.00	$711	-20.00

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
543	543	10	163.75	$163.75	$889	-1.76
604–649	609	72	147.00–156.75	$155.62	$948	+1.11
656–686	678	27	139.50–149.00	$141.88	$962	-0.05
710	710	2	138.00	$138.00	$980	-2.24
760	760	60	132.25	$132.25	$1,005	-3.25
766–779	774	72	131.00–131.50	$131.19	$1,015	-1.81
825–841	830	29	119.00–123.75	$122.67	$1,018	+4.17

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
401–428	417	10	157.00	$157.00	$655	-8.00
480–490	488	17	144.00–153.50	$151.86	$741	-6.14
510–544	537	19	145.00–148.00	$146.88	$789	—
560–585	569	6	143.00–150.00	$144.86	$824	-4.20
620	620	14	144.50	$144.50	$896	+8.50
657–658	657	7	124.00–135.00	$131.85	$866	-3.15

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
364–368	367	18	151.00–153.00	$152.56	$560	—
566	566	16	124.00	$124.00	$702	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
70–75	73	3	100.00	$100.00	—

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
817	817	3	111.50	$111.50	$911	—
879	879	4	106.00	$106.00	$932	-24.60
940	940	1	105.50	$105.50	$992	—
950–983	970	14	103.00–107.00	$105.16	$1,020	—

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1065	1065	2	103.00	$103.00	$1,097	—
1100	1100	1	99.00	$99.00	$1,089	—
1160–1165	1163	2	100.00–104.00	$102.00	$1,186	+11.00

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
100	100	1	200.00	$200.00	—

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Slaughter Cows

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
705	705	85-90%	1	46.00	$46.00	$324	—
850	850	85-90%	1	57.00	$57.00	$484	—
940	940	85-90%	1	65.00	$65.00	$611	—
910–1280	1084	85-90%	15	57.00–64.00	$60.67	$658	—
1010–1380	1131	85-90%	4	47.00–51.00	$49.33	$558	-16.20
1130–1145	1138	85-90%	2	70.00	$70.00	$797	+4.47
1152–1285	1162	85-90%	18	71.00–72.00	$71.91	$836	+4.91
1035–1280	1182	85-90%	34	53.50–64.50	$61.36	$725	-5.64
1135–1263	1211	85-90%	17	65.00–69.00	$67.23	$814	+8.40
1138–1328	1229	85-90%	25	65.00–68.00	$66.46	$817	+7.63

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1320–1503	1383	80-85%	12	65.00–69.00	$67.28	$930	-1.73
1385	1385	80-85%	1	70.00	$70.00	$970	+0.99
1340–1540	1438	80-85%	20	60.50–65.50	$64.36	$925	-1.44
1328–1675	1466	80-85%	10	62.50–65.00	$64.30	$943	+1.66
1335–1729	1494	80-85%	16	65.50–69.50	$67.36	$1,006	+4.72
1368–1683	1501	80-85%	11	70.00–72.00	$70.92	$1,065	-2.08

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1395–1740	1544	75-80%	5	68.00–73.00	$70.55	$1,089	+3.04
1560–1595	1575	75-80%	4	64.00–67.50	$66.24	$1,043	-4.81

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1300	1300	1	83.50	$83.50	$1,086	—
1240–1343	1317	4	86.50–88.50	$86.97	$1,145	—
1350–2140	1606	10	72.00–84.50	$80.69	$1,296	—
1290–2180	1678	18	84.50–89.00	$86.35	$1,449	+0.56
1815–2080	1954	6	90.00–98.00	$94.07	$1,838	—

YG2-3 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1370	1370	2	82.50	$82.50	$1,130	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
725–770 thin fleshed	748	(<2 yrs)	Open	2	61.00–93.00	$77.48	$580
720–1360	985	(<2 yrs)	Open	171	72.50–124.00	$89.44	$881
855–1390	1135	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	65	67.50–85.00	$75.36	$855

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
1068	1068	(<2 yrs)	Open	2	71.00	$71.00	$758

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
988–1112	1032	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	17	1,225.00	$1,225.00
1065	1065	Young (2-4 yrs)	1st/2nd Stage (1-6 mo)	7	910.00	$910.00
1224–1527	1289	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	14	1,135.00–1,225.00	$1,157.85
1334–1365	1341	Aged (>8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	9	875.00–885.00	$882.74

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Bred Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1012	1012	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	13	1,235.00	$1,235.00
1074	1074	(<2 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	7	1,225.00	$1,225.00

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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.