Miles City Livestock Commission Auction Market Report

Miles City, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Tuesday, May 17, 2022

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

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	875	1,354	982
Feeder cattle	56	398	329
Slaughter cattle	618	465	371
Replacement cattle	201	491	282

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Feeder cattle were scarcely tested this week, thus no trend can be established. Demand for feeder cattle was mostly good for very light offerings. Quality was mostly average this week. Ranchers were the driving force in the market as they showed very good demand for cattle to run on pasture. Rain fell across much of eastern Montana last week and many locations received between 1.5 and 3.0 inches. Grass has greened significantly over the past week. Market activity this week was mostly moderate to active. Weigh up cows comprised most of the offering this week. Slaughter cows sold steady to 3.00 higher on boning and lean cows. Breaking cows were too lightly tested to develop any market trend. Feeding cow demand was very good this week. Packers and private feeders both showed good to very good demand for feeding cows. Cow quality was attractive to very attractive. Weigh up conditions were average to above average. Many cows are slicked off and fresh green grass has most cows emptied out. Feeding cows sold 2.00-3.00 higher. Slaughter bulls sold generally steady. Young age cows sold steady to firm. Quality was average to attractive this week.

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Feeder Steers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
528	528	2	215.00	$215.00	$1,135	+14.00
565	565	7	212.00	$212.00	$1,198	+18.54

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
467	467	5	178.00	$178.00	$831	+9.84
525	525	1	174.00	$174.00	$914	+9.44
723	723	6	131.00	$131.00	$947	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
595	595	1	171.00	$171.00	$1,017	—
737	737	8	150.00	$150.00	$1,106	—

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Feeder Bulls

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1013–1028	1021	6	114.50–115.50	$115.00	$1,174	-3.00
1050	1050	1	109.00	$109.00	$1,144	—
1100	1100	5	104.50	$104.50	$1,150	-5.50
1175	1175	2	104.00–109.50	$106.75	$1,254	-9.25

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
941	941	4	123.00	$123.00	$1,157	+8.00
975	975	3	117.50	$117.50	$1,146	—

Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1028	1028	3	109.00	$109.00	$1,121	—

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Slaughter Cows

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
795–820	808	85-90%	2	50.00–59.00	$54.57	$441	—
820–935	891	85-90%	6	61.00–64.00	$62.95	$561	—
910	910	85-90%	1	72.50	$72.50	$660	—
963–1190	1039	85-90%	3	81.00	$81.00	$842	+26.00
1000–1300	1157	85-90%	77	64.50–74.00	$71.41	$826	-5.92
1185	1185	85-90%	1	59.00	$59.00	$699	-18.33
1040–1315	1188	85-90%	79	74.00–80.00	$76.05	$903	-1.28
1150–1249	1206	85-90%	21	82.00–86.50	$84.58	$1,020	+6.59
1120–1290	1210	85-90%	45	75.50–81.00	$79.28	$959	+1.29

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1340	1340	80-85%	1	76.50	$76.50	$1,025	-4.50
1303–1460	1354	80-85%	16	82.25–83.75	$82.79	$1,121	+3.98
1303–1475	1378	80-85%	35	75.00–81.50	$78.01	$1,075	-5.67
1301–1624	1383	80-85%	60	83.50–85.50	$84.17	$1,164	+0.49
1315–1435	1383	80-85%	3	67.00–74.00	$71.26	$986	-12.42
1296–1565	1393	80-85%	60	76.50–83.50	$80.72	$1,124	-2.96

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1565	1565	75-80%	1	83.50	$83.50	$1,307	—
1570	1570	75-80%	2	79.00	$79.00	$1,240	—
1530–1633	1578	75-80%	6	81.50–83.50	$82.83	$1,307	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1280	1280	1	100.00	$100.00	$1,280	+1.87
1300	1300	1	99.00	$99.00	$1,287	—
1132–1371	1311	12	68.00–73.50	$72.31	$948	—
1335–1595	1465	2	91.00–92.00	$91.46	$1,340	—
1495–1630	1563	2	89.00–90.00	$89.52	$1,399	-14.48
1365–2060	1602	11	91.00–102.50	$98.80	$1,583	—
1620	1620	1	103.00	$103.00	$1,669	—
1540–2090	1727	14	104.00–108.00	$105.72	$1,826	+18.00
1685–2110	1872	13	104.00–113.00	$107.26	$2,008	—

YG2-3 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
2523	2523	2	91.50	$91.50	$2,309	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
710–1200	960	(<2 yrs)	Open	76	87.00–127.50	$109.82	$1,054
875–1234	1090	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	53	79.00–108.00	$90.15	$983
1115–1218	1197	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	Open	8	76.00–79.50	$78.79	$943

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
776–918	798	(<2 yrs)	Open	15	94.00–108.00	$105.44	$841

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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
1254	1254	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	5	1,710.00	$1,710.00	-303.89
1385	1385	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	Open	4	1,535.00	$1,535.00	-124.81

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Heifer Pairs

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
1109–1235	1156	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	16	1,760.00–1,785.00	$1,770.01	—

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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.