Miles City Livestock Commission Auction Market Report

Miles City, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Tuesday, May 4, 2021

1,452 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 $125.96/cwt -5.71 vs last sale · ≈ $959/hd at 761 lb · 166 head

light 7-weight M&L 1 heifers $130.57/cwt -7.43 vs last sale · ≈ $937/hd at 718 lb · 161 head

heavy 5-weight M&L 1 heifers $148.83/cwt ≈ $869/hd at 584 lb · 43 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	1,452	1,337	992
Feeder cattle	769	678	585
Slaughter cattle	401	271	170
Replacement cattle	282	388	237

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 600-799 lbs sold mostly 7.00-10.00 lower. Steer quality was plain to average, while Heifer quality was average to very attractive. Drought conditions around the region continue to drive replacement quality heifers to sell. Notably, all replacement heifers sold today were purchased to feed. Demand for feeder cattle was mostly light to moderate on light to moderate offerings. CME feeder positions continue to fall as feed costs continue to rise. This, coupled with drought conditions has drastically lightened demand for feeder cattle. Market activity was mostly slow to moderate today. Weigh up cows sold on light to moderate demand for moderate offerings. Drought conditions are starting to drive cows to market and packers are seeing seasonally high numbers of cows being marketed. As a result cow prices have started to slide. Slaughter cows sold mostly 2.00-4.00 lower. Feeding cows sold steady to 1.00 lower. Packer buyers continue to buy young high quality cows to put away on feed. However, as feed cost have risen order buyers showed lighter demand for cows to feed. Slaughter bulls sold weak. Young age cows suitable to feed or rebreed sold mostly 5.00-8.00 lower. High feed cost have lightened demand for these offerings.

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
481	481	7	161.00	$161.00	$774	-22.00
523	523	15	151.00	$151.00	$790	-20.96

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
563	563	8	160.50	$160.50	$904	-9.50
673	673	3	150.50	$150.50	$1,013	-1.50

Medium 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
429	429	4	155.00	$155.00	$665	-8.00

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
513–531	519	32	151.00–152.00	$151.35	$786	-12.40
565–595	584	43	146.50–156.00	$148.83	$869	—
600–630	617	24	141.00–146.75	$144.92	$894	-10.70
670–675	671	6	131.00–131.50	$131.42	$882	-10.46
702–729	718	161	126.00–133.00	$130.57	$937	-7.43
757 fancy	757	64	130.00	$130.00	$984	—
758–795	764	102	120.00–124.00	$123.43	$943	-8.82
807	807	3	118.00	$118.00	$952	-4.67
895	895	5	108.00	$108.00	$967	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
474	474	4	145.00	$145.00	$687	-6.86
516–525	520	18	145.00–148.00	$146.10	$760	-0.78
585–586	586	25	139.00–139.50	$139.46	$817	-5.40
639	639	6	135.00	$135.00	$863	-9.50
653	653	8	133.50	$133.50	$872	+1.65

Medium 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
438	438	12	143.00	$143.00	$626	—
485	485	7	122.50	$122.50	$594	—

Medium 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
448–449	449	13	145.00–146.00	$145.54	$653	—
489	489	4	149.00	$149.00	$729	—

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
473	473	6	135.00	$135.00	$639	—

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
507–547	522	15	132.00–136.00	$134.95	$704	—
651–661	657	10	115.00–124.00	$118.57	$779	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
1040–1240	1110	(<2 yrs)	N/A	6	1,600.00–2,100.00	$1,810.13	—
1790	1790	Young (2-4 yrs)	N/A	1	1,900.00	$1,900.00	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
925	925	1	106.00	$106.00	$980	+0.50
960	960	4	100.00	$100.00	$960	-5.16

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Slaughter Cows

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
745–858	820	85-90%	3	43.00–48.50	$46.84	$384	—
805–930	868	85-90%	2	62.00–63.00	$62.54	$543	+5.54
775–980	894	85-90%	4	50.00–52.00	$50.80	$454	—
1070	1070	85-90%	1	41.00	$41.00	$439	-19.67
950–1370	1138	85-90%	38	51.00–63.50	$57.06	$649	-12.94
1014–1310	1152	85-90%	45	56.00–65.00	$60.39	$696	-11.52
1065–1280	1155	85-90%	59	64.00–68.50	$66.43	$767	-5.48
1165–1235	1190	85-90%	3	68.50–71.50	$70.13	$835	+8.77
1050–1285	1205	85-90%	19	61.50–66.50	$64.17	$773	-3.06

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1253	1253	80-85%	2	70.50	$70.50	$883	—
1341–1470	1365	80-85%	17	60.50–64.50	$63.54	$867	-3.74
1362–1445	1383	80-85%	4	69.50	$69.50	$961	+2.22
1165–1620	1410	80-85%	30	63.00–67.50	$64.79	$914	+0.43
1325–1795	1441	80-85%	11	54.50–62.50	$60.24	$868	-4.12
1318–1646	1477	80-85%	70	64.00–68.50	$66.30	$979	+2.00

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1475–1785	1576	75-80%	9	62.00–66.50	$64.41	$1,015	-1.83
1955	1955	75-80%	1	66.00	$66.00	$1,290	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1185–1265	1231	9	75.00–83.50	$79.58	$980	—
1275–1870	1580	13	73.50–83.50	$80.56	$1,273	—
1570–1985	1762	16	83.50–89.00	$86.17	$1,518	—
1680–2400	1994	9	90.00–98.00	$93.71	$1,869	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
738–835 thin fleshed	776	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	5	61.00–79.00	$72.84	$565
790 thin fleshed	790	(<2 yrs)	Open	1	84.00	$84.00	$664
719–1325	903	(<2 yrs)	Open	134	75.50–105.00	$93.59	$845
832–1245	999	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	67	63.50–89.00	$78.81	$787

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
940	940	(<2 yrs)	Open	4	84.00	$84.00	$790

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1256	1256	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	5	1,375.00	$1,375.00
1259	1259	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	5	1,200.00	$1,200.00
1456–1518	1487	Aged (>8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	10	850.00–935.00	$893.39

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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.