Miles City Livestock Commission Auction Market Report

Miles City, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Tuesday, April 11, 2023

827 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 heifers $228.51/cwt +18.45 vs last sale · ≈ $1,417/hd at 620 lb · 91 head

light 4-weight M&L 1 heifers $272.64/cwt +41.64 vs last sale · ≈ $1,165/hd at 427 lb · 54 head

light 6-weight M&L 1 steers $242.00/cwt ≈ $1,476/hd at 610 lb · 32 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale
Total receipts	827	499
Feeder cattle	529	245
Slaughter cattle	114	99
Replacement cattle	184	155

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Feeder cattle were all too lightly tested last week to develop an accurate market trend, however higher undertones were noticed on steers; heifers under 550 lbs sold with sharply higher undertones, heifers over 550 lbs sold with higher undertones. Quality this sale was mixed from plain to attractive. Demand was mostly good to very good for light offerings. Flesh conditions were mostly light this week, with lots of hay fed cattle that were developed for grass. Higher CME feeder cattle prices provided support to the light cattle market as many of these offerings will be backgrounded or turned out on grass. Market activity was mostly active this week, despite light offerings. Weigh up cows sold on mostly good demand for light offerings. Slaughter cows sold mostly steady to 2.00 higher in a narrow comparison. Major packers and local packers continue to be very aggressive as they fight over limited offerings. No cows were purchased to feed last week, however this week demand for feeding cows was very good. Feeding cows are not well compared this week. Slaughter bulls sold on good to very good demand this sale. Slaughter bulls sold steady to 1.00 higher. Feeding bull buyers pushed lower quality or light weight bulls higher again this week. As a result, low dressing bulls saw the biggest upswing in price. Cow and bull quality was average to attractive this week. Weigh up conditions were average this week, but better compared to last week. Young age cows comprised a large portion of the sale this week. The best demand was seen for coming 2-4 year old cows which lost calves. Many of the coming 2 year old offerings out sold what that would have brought last fall as yearlings. Young age cows sold mostly 8.00-12.00 higher.

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
365 unweaned	365	14	287.50	$287.50	$1,049	—
368–375	372	8	296.00–300.00	$298.52	$1,110	—
455 unweaned	455	5	268.00	$268.00	$1,219	—
493	493	2	273.00	$273.00	$1,346	—
500	500	11	266.00	$266.00	$1,330	—
554	554	23	256.00	$256.00	$1,418	—
610	610	32	242.00	$242.00	$1,476	—
665	665	10	220.00	$220.00	$1,463	—
709	709	32	211.00	$211.00	$1,496	—
760	760	1	199.00	$199.00	$1,512	+6.30

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
423–437	428	16	271.00–275.00	$273.47	$1,170	—
476–488	483	10	259.00–266.00	$261.76	$1,264	+9.76
523	523	3	263.00	$263.00	$1,375	+28.00
555–593	582	13	227.00–243.00	$231.47	$1,347	—
650	650	4	209.00	$209.00	$1,358	—
700–735	720	6	191.00–200.00	$192.53	$1,386	—
785	785	1	193.00	$193.00	$1,515	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
384	384	4	270.00	$270.00	$1,037	+17.50
386 fancy	386	10	287.00	$287.00	$1,108	—
400 fancy	400	13	280.00	$280.00	$1,120	—
405–443	436	41	261.00–276.00	$270.31	$1,179	—
467	467	3	245.00	$245.00	$1,144	—
517 fancy	517	10	257.00	$257.00	$1,329	—
529 unweaned	529	7	220.00	$220.00	$1,164	—
513–544	535	7	235.00–238.00	$237.18	$1,269	+7.18
555	555	5	234.00	$234.00	$1,299	—
600–645	620	91	220.00–236.00	$228.51	$1,417	+18.45
670	670	1	212.00	$212.00	$1,420	—
700–728	720	4	184.00–195.00	$190.57	$1,372	+4.57
755–775	763	15	182.50–185.00	$183.98	$1,404	—
958	958	3	164.00	$164.00	$1,571	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
380–399	394	7	232.50–259.00	$239.81	$945	—
444	444	4	241.00	$241.00	$1,070	—
500–548	532	3	214.00–217.00	$214.94	$1,143	-10.06
575–590	585	3	205.00–206.00	$205.33	$1,201	—
600	600	1	202.00	$202.00	$1,212	—
658–678	665	13	180.00–188.50	$184.65	$1,228	—

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
499	499	4	227.00	$227.00	$1,133	—

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
455–479	472	7	247.50–255.00	$252.93	$1,194	—

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1095	1095	1	148.00	$148.00	$1,621	—
1263	1263	2	129.00	$129.00	$1,629	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
553	553	3	227.00	$227.00	$1,255	±0.00

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Slaughter Cows

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1275–1345	1310	80-85%	2	84.50–88.50	$86.55	$1,134	—
1260–1480	1351	80-85%	7	91.50–99.00	$96.20	$1,300	—
1210–1495	1353	80-85%	2	101.00–102.50	$101.67	$1,376	—
1225–1505	1355	80-85%	23	91.00–100.75	$95.61	$1,296	—
1380	1380	80-85%	1	89.50	$89.50	$1,235	—
1455	1455	80-85%	1	100.50	$100.50	$1,462	+6.37

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
770–995	934	85-90%	4	77.00–82.00	$79.22	$740	—
1140	1140	85-90%	1	61.00	$61.00	$695	—
1005–1305	1144	85-90%	12	88.00–95.50	$90.71	$1,038	—
1055–1380	1194	85-90%	6	78.00–88.00	$83.61	$998	-1.76
1230–1285	1253	85-90%	3	98.00–105.00	$100.80	$1,263	—
1265–1390	1301	85-90%	4	91.00–94.50	$92.12	$1,198	—

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1448–1700	1543	75-80%	4	99.50–100.25	$99.98	$1,543	—
1650–1700	1683	75-80%	6	97.00–101.00	$99.25	$1,670	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1180	1180	1	124.00	$124.00	$1,463	+16.00
1085–1600	1388	8	109.00–122.00	$118.72	$1,648	—
1340–1495	1418	3	110.00–111.00	$110.35	$1,565	—
1595–1975	1779	5	112.00–122.00	$118.25	$2,104	—
1590–1905	1788	3	93.00–112.50	$104.82	$1,874	—
1680–2105	1955	3	123.50–128.00	$124.97	$2,443	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
803–1123	943	(<2 yrs)	Open	112	143.50–175.50	$165.70	$1,563
855–1325	1113	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	40	97.00–141.00	$114.13	$1,270
1165	1165	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	Open	1	95.00	$95.00	$1,107

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
685	685	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	1	125.00	$125.00	$856
720–880	800	(<2 yrs)	Open	4	150.00–167.00	$155.83	$1,247

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
895–955	918	(<2 yrs)	Open	3	122.50–155.00	$141.32	$1,297
950–1020	985	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	2	92.00–97.00	$94.41	$930

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
865–1330	1098	(<2 yrs)	Open	2	121.00–156.00	$134.79	$1,480

Medium 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
795	795	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	1	84.00	$84.00	$668

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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.