Miles City Livestock Commission Auction Market Report

Miles City, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Tuesday, May 11, 2021

1,599 head sold ·Official USDA report

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

light 7-weight M&L 1 heifers $136.55/cwt +5.98 vs last sale · ≈ $982/hd at 719 lb · 74 head

heavy 7-weight M&L 1 heifers $131.06/cwt +5.10 vs last sale · ≈ $1,003/hd at 765 lb · 64 head

light 5-weight M&L 1-2 steers $165.00/cwt +14.00 vs last sale · ≈ $896/hd at 543 lb · 53 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	1,599	1,452	963
Feeder cattle	810	769	456
Slaughter cattle	379	401	168
Replacement cattle	410	282	339

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Steers were all too lightly tested last week to develop any market trend. The best test for heifers was for 750-799 lbs which sold 5.00 higher. All other weights of heifers were too lightly tested either this week or last, however higher undertones were noticed. Quality this week was mixed from plain to very attractive. Steer quality was once again drastically lower than heifer quality this week. Ranchers are still marketing replacement quality heifers as drought conditions continue to drive offerings to market. However, rain and/or snow was seen today and over this past weekend in a wide swath across much of Eastern Montana. This sparked some interest from ranchers which purchased these high quality offerings again as replacements. Replacement type heifers sold around 10.00 higher for like quality offerings. Feeding demand was stronger in places this week compared to last. Demand for plain or cross bred cattle continues to be very light. Market activity today was slow to moderate. Weigh up cows sold on mostly moderate demand for moderate to heavy offerings. Packers showed mostly moderate demand for slaughter and feeding cows today. Slaughter cows and feeding cows both sold fully steady. Weigh up conditions were mostly average to above average as cows were emptied out from coming off fresh pasture or range. Slaughter bulls sold fully steady. Young age cows suitable to feed or rebreed sold fully steady. Demand was mostly moderate for average to attractive 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
543	543	53	165.00	$165.00	$896	+14.00
684	684	4	136.50	$136.50	$934	—
720–743	732	4	131.00	$131.00	$959	—

Medium 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
613	613	16	111.00	$111.00	$680	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
683	683	3	148.50	$148.50	$1,014	-2.00
816–840	819	8	119.00–121.00	$120.74	$989	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
518	518	5	158.00	$158.00	$818	+6.65
638	638	2	148.00	$148.00	$944	+3.08
655–673	666	34	137.25–148.00	$139.13	$927	+7.71
718	718	67	136.50	$136.50	$980	+5.93
733 fancy	733	7	137.00	$137.00	$1,004	—
753	753	33	133.00	$133.00	$1,001	+9.57
778	778	31	129.00	$129.00	$1,004	+5.57

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
510	510	36	144.00	$144.00	$734	-2.10
570–580	579	29	134.00–137.00	$134.45	$778	-5.01
602	602	5	134.00	$134.00	$807	—
688	688	2	132.00	$132.00	$908	-1.50

Medium 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
407–445	425	21	122.50–125.00	$123.75	$526	-19.25
544	544	16	115.50	$115.50	$628	—

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
448	448	6	124.00	$124.00	$556	—

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Feeder Bulls

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1020	1020	1	102.00	$102.00	$1,040	—
1058	1058	2	104.00	$104.00	$1,100	—

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Slaughter Cows

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
785–995	881	85-90%	7	52.00–61.00	$56.29	$496	+5.49
955–1225	1119	85-90%	28	52.00–63.00	$59.36	$664	+2.30
1015–1335	1149	85-90%	6	52.50–61.50	$58.03	$667	+0.97
1065–1300	1164	85-90%	27	61.50–65.50	$63.30	$737	-3.13
1035–1290	1206	85-90%	27	63.00–68.00	$65.41	$789	+1.24
1178–1270	1213	85-90%	12	69.00–71.75	$70.89	$860	+6.72

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1255–1308	1299	80-85%	6	70.00–71.25	$71.05	$923	—
1359	1359	80-85%	6	63.50	$63.50	$863	-0.04
1290–1795	1381	80-85%	21	64.00–68.00	$65.20	$900	-4.30
1075–1529	1386	80-85%	59	63.00–68.75	$65.94	$914	-3.56
1390–1430	1400	80-85%	4	61.00–62.50	$62.12	$870	-2.67

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1517	1517	75-80%	3	67.75	$67.75	$1,028	—
1530	1530	75-80%	1	64.50	$64.50	$987	—
1509–1985	1587	75-80%	14	65.50–68.75	$66.88	$1,061	+2.47
1636–1830	1700	75-80%	10	58.00–65.00	$63.71	$1,083	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1047	1047	3	88.00	$88.00	$921	—
1045–1287	1246	6	80.00–84.50	$83.36	$1,039	+3.78
1298	1298	2	78.00	$78.00	$1,012	—
1260–2030	1551	18	75.00–84.50	$82.02	$1,272	+1.46
1475–2080	1717	18	84.00–91.00	$86.42	$1,484	—
1865–1900	1888	3	94.00–96.00	$95.00	$1,794	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
713–890 thin fleshed	749	(<2 yrs)	Open	7	75.00–84.00	$78.81	$590
718–1215	916	(<2 yrs)	Open	139	70.50–109.50	$93.26	$854
795–1305	1052	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	37	65.00–84.00	$73.62	$774
1020–1180 thin fleshed	1127	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	3	63.00–65.00	$64.40	$726

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
760–830	782	(<2 yrs)	Open	6	78.00–82.00	$80.95	$633

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
960–977	973	(<2 yrs)	Open	4	72.00–74.00	$73.51	$715
1075	1075	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	1	64.50	$64.50	$693

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
753	753	(<2 yrs)	Open	3	77.00	$77.00	$580

Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
955	955	(<2 yrs)	Open	1	58.00	$58.00	$554

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
1553	1553	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	5	64.50	$64.50	$1,002

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Bred Heifers

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1014–1084	1045	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	22	1,085.00–1,100.00	$1,087.83

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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
1297	1297	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	5	1,400.00	$1,400.00	—
1221–1400	1340	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	12	1,550.00–1,560.00	$1,556.96	—
1366 thin fleshed	1366	Aged (>8 yrs)	Open	8	985.00	$985.00	—
1340–1637	1404	Aged (>8 yrs)	Open	55	1,010.00–1,085.00	$1,048.68	—
1458–1574	1515	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	Open	17	1,275.00–1,510.00	$1,381.62	—
1373–1790	1551	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	Open	45	1,185.00–1,250.00	$1,220.10	—
1755	1755	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	Open	4	1,200.00	$1,200.00	—

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Heifer Pairs

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
1108	1108	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	10	1,550.00	$1,550.00	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
1115	1115	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	5	1,250.00	$1,250.00	—

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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.