Miles City Livestock Commission Auction Market Report

Miles City, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Tuesday, December 13, 2022

1,943 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 steers $189.03/cwt -4.53 vs last sale · ≈ $1,175/hd at 621 lb · 140 head

light 5-weight M&L 1 heifers $176.22/cwt -12.80 vs last sale · ≈ $949/hd at 539 lb · 103 head

heavy 4-weight M&L 1 heifers $184.60/cwt -5.28 vs last sale · ≈ $866/hd at 469 lb · 98 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	1,943	2,325	4,571
Feeder cattle	1,359	1,913	3,201
Slaughter cattle	464	266	895
Replacement cattle	120	146	475

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Feeder steer and heifer calves were too lightly tested this week or last to develop a full market trend, however weak undertones were noticed on weaned calves and lower to sharply lower undertones were noticed on unweaned calves. A huge winter storm is dumping heavy amounts of snow over Eastern Montana, the Northern plains, and the corn belt over the next 48 hours. This put a huge damper on demand as most buyers were unwilling to bid on cattle no matter the cost. The best demand was for long weaned calves. Buyers showed mostly very light demand for unweaned calves ahead of the storm. Quality this week was mixed from plain to attractive. Market activity was mostly slow with a light buyer pool on hand for todays sale. Weigh up cows sold on mostly light to moderate demand and offerings. Slaughter cows sold generally steady to 2.00 higher on boning and lean cows. Breaking cows were too lightly tested to develop any market trend. Feeding cows sold generally steady in a very narrow comparison. Slaughter bulls sold generally steady in a narrow comparison. Weigh up conditions were mostly average to below average this sale as most offerings were tanked up due to the snow storm. Cow and bull quality was mostly plain to average this week. Most offerings were purchased to send directly to slaughter this sale. Young age sold on mostly moderate demand this week. Quality was mostly average this week. Young age cows sold steady to weak on a poorer quality offering.

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
445–449	446	52	219.50–220.50	$220.16	$982	-19.84
453	453	27	220.00	$220.00	$997	-5.34
451–485 unweaned	469	30	196.00–207.50	$200.72	$941	—
517–548 unweaned	536	31	184.00–193.00	$187.20	$1,003	—
536–545	540	47	188.50–190.00	$189.58	$1,024	-24.45
553–593 unweaned	560	23	183.00–198.00	$195.56	$1,095	—
559–595	569	39	184.00–200.00	$194.40	$1,106	-3.83
614–630	616	92	184.00–193.00	$191.94	$1,182	+10.94
632–634 unweaned	632	48	183.00–183.50	$183.46	$1,159	—
658–677 unweaned	666	25	165.00–177.50	$171.50	$1,142	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
394	394	4	217.50	$217.50	$857	-13.50
405–423	416	13	215.00–216.00	$215.37	$896	-8.26
408–433 unweaned	416	24	190.00–211.00	$206.73	$860	—
464–485	475	16	192.50–205.00	$200.68	$953	—
524	524	6	178.50	$178.50	$935	-25.50
565–568 unweaned	568	24	171.00–180.00	$178.88	$1,016	—
827	827	6	163.00	$163.00	$1,348	+9.00

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
346	346	4	215.00	$215.00	$744	—
349 unweaned	349	4	207.50	$207.50	$724	—
357	357	5	220.00	$220.00	$785	—
409–411	410	14	205.00–215.00	$211.44	$867	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
413–421 unweaned	419	12	180.00–181.00	$180.25	$755	—
405–438	429	48	184.50–190.00	$188.50	$809	-8.06
452–465	455	35	181.00–189.50	$187.27	$852	-2.61
451–488 unweaned	477	63	175.00–188.50	$183.11	$873	—
522–523	522	12	172.00–180.00	$173.34	$905	-14.68
530–548 unweaned	541	91	173.00–180.50	$176.60	$955	—
562–566	563	18	174.00–178.00	$175.12	$986	-5.16
591–598 unweaned	595	61	163.50–168.00	$166.17	$989	—
605–626 unweaned	611	52	159.00–168.00	$166.27	$1,016	—
744 unweaned	744	9	135.00	$135.00	$1,004	—
868–895	882	21	154.50	$154.50	$1,363	-11.57
918	918	7	151.00	$151.00	$1,386	-6.00
962	962	23	152.50	$152.50	$1,467	-10.98

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
342 unweaned	342	8	170.00	$170.00	$581	—
356–376 unweaned	363	12	160.00–174.00	$169.16	$614	—
396	396	21	184.00	$184.00	$729	—
404 unweaned	404	7	176.00	$176.00	$711	—
404–413	406	8	176.00–177.00	$176.75	$718	-15.25
470–473 unweaned	470	18	161.00–170.00	$168.99	$794	—
494	494	17	180.00	$180.00	$889	-2.46
593 unweaned	593	4	137.50	$137.50	$815	—
803–835	823	17	150.00–154.50	$152.89	$1,258	—
918	918	4	149.00	$149.00	$1,368	—

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
358	358	20	188.50	$188.50	$675	—
394 unweaned	394	11	172.00	$172.00	$678	—
400–432 unweaned	419	5	171.00	$171.00	$716	—

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
458	458	4	192.00	$192.00	$879	-7.00
522 unweaned	522	3	166.00	$166.00	$867	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
382 unweaned	382	3	192.50	$192.50	$735	—

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Slaughter Cows

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
945–990	968	85-90%	5	39.00–52.00	$46.89	$454	—
1000–1305	1124	85-90%	88	46.50–57.00	$53.11	$597	-6.06
1015–1395	1152	85-90%	6	30.00–46.00	$41.56	$479	-11.31
1090–1350	1159	85-90%	43	49.00–55.50	$53.68	$622	+0.81
1050–1298	1198	85-90%	30	56.50–60.00	$57.96	$694	—
855–1365	1238	85-90%	23	57.00–65.00	$62.42	$773	+4.34

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1078	1078	80-85%	10	44.00	$44.00	$474	—
1250–1525	1341	80-85%	37	64.50–74.00	$68.17	$914	+7.87
1335–1470	1359	80-85%	13	50.50–61.50	$57.28	$778	—
1255–1495	1378	80-85%	12	59.50–63.50	$60.96	$840	-5.39

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1105–1833	1621	14	88.00–93.50	$90.14	$1,461	—
1476–2025	1681	17	80.50–89.00	$86.62	$1,456	+4.89
1595–2190	1798	4	75.00–86.50	$80.30	$1,444	—
2045–2050	2048	4	89.00–90.00	$89.50	$1,833	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
861–1158	951	(<2 yrs)	Open	93	75.50–107.50	$99.53	$947
1045–1330	1109	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	8	61.00–75.00	$67.97	$754

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
1282	1282	Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	6	59.50	$59.50	$763

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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.