Miles City Livestock Commission Auction Market Report

Miles City, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Tuesday, October 6, 2026

2,517 head sold ·Official USDA report

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

heavy 5-weight M&L 1 steers $432.28/cwt +45.28 vs last sale · ≈ $2,447/hd at 566 lb · 428 head

light 5-weight M&L 1 steers $466.08/cwt ≈ $2,410/hd at 517 lb · 279 head

heavy 4-weight M&L 1 heifers $443.79/cwt ≈ $2,081/hd at 469 lb · 260 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	2,517	1,081	2,334
Feeder cattle	2,280	670	1,955
Slaughter cattle	202	239	269
Replacement cattle	35	172	110

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last sale (9-29-26): All feeder steers and heifer calves were all too lightly tested last week to develop an accurate market trend, however higher undertones were noticed on all offerings. Yearling steers were too lightly tested to develop any market trend. Yearling heifers sold fully steady in a narrow comparison. Quality this week was mostly average to attractive on yearlings and attractive to very attractive for all calves on offer. Demand for feeders was mostly moderate for yearlings and moderate to good for calves. Yearling offerings were light, while calf offerings were mostly moderate to heavy. The first big test of calves was seen today as ranchers start to market their spring calves. Many long strings of attractive calves were seen this week off reputation ranches. Calves with two rounds of vaccinations sold with the best demand this week as buyers showed strong 10.00-12.00 premiums for calves with both spring and fall shots. Demand for light weight calves was good to very good as buyers purchased calves mostly under 450 lbs to run on winter pastures and develop into yearlings. Historically, these buyers wait till mid to late November to start buying light calves but these buyers both this year and last year started buying earlier in order to fill out orders. A large buyer pool was noticed for todays sale and market activity was mostly active as a result. Weigh up cows sold on mostly light demand for light offerings. Feeding cows sold steady to 5.00 lower. Fewer feeding cow buyers were in the stands this week and light demand continues to be seen from American packer buyers. Canadian feeding cow buyers were active this week and continue to purchase cows away from American packers. Slaughter cows sold generally steady in a narrow comparison. Slaughter bulls sold 2.00-3.00 lower. Bulls started the sale lower but improved as buyers entered the market and started loads. Weigh up conditions were mostly below average today. Cows and bulls coming off greened up regrowth were mostly full this sale as pasture and range conditions have improved in recent weeks due to late summer and early fall rain. Young age cows were too lightly tested to develop an accurate market trend, however higher undertones were noticed. Demand for high quality cows suitable to rebreed was mostly good to very good.

→ Feeder cattle: Demand for feeders was mostly moderate for yearlings and moderate to good for calves
→ Feeder heifers: All feeder steers and heifer calves were all too lightly tested last week to develop an accurate market trend
→ Feeder steers: All feeder steers and heifer calves were all too lightly tested last week to develop an accurate market trend
▼ Slaughter bulls: Slaughter bulls sold 2.00-3.00 lower
→ Slaughter cows: Slaughter cows sold generally steady in a narrow comparison

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
225 unweaned	225	1	655.00	$655.00	$1,474	—
275 unweaned	275	5	585.00	$585.00	$1,609	—
323–325 unweaned	324	4	585.00–590.00	$587.49	$1,903	—
369–399 unweaned	388	35	552.50–600.00	$564.60	$2,191	—
418–443 unweaned	431	47	507.50–539.00	$522.74	$2,253	—
462–497 unweaned	474	204	461.00–521.00	$493.45	$2,339	+51.12
500–530 unweaned	517	279	430.00–491.00	$466.08	$2,410	—
552–583 unweaned	566	428	420.50–441.00	$432.28	$2,447	+45.28
602–642 unweaned	619	153	399.50–427.50	$408.51	$2,529	+25.33

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
325 unweaned	325	6	520.00	$520.00	$1,690	—
440–445 unweaned	442	25	425.00–500.00	$453.79	$2,006	-5.38
501–539 unweaned	513	23	415.00–432.50	$427.54	$2,193	—
556 unweaned	556	17	417.50	$417.50	$2,321	—
624 unweaned	624	21	382.50	$382.50	$2,387	—
632 thin fleshed	632	7	390.50	$390.50	$2,468	—
742	742	10	362.50	$362.50	$2,690	—
875	875	3	332.00	$332.00	$2,905	-1.00

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
374 unweaned	374	13	420.00	$420.00	$1,571	—
483 unweaned	483	11	375.00	$375.00	$1,811	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
347 unweaned	347	16	540.00	$540.00	$1,874	—
365–391 unweaned	386	10	490.00–505.00	$492.84	$1,902	-17.16
402–438 unweaned	418	18	470.00–505.00	$488.70	$2,043	+26.76
454–490 unweaned	469	260	411.00–458.00	$443.79	$2,081	—
500	500	35	432.50	$432.50	$2,162	—
517–536 unweaned	519	99	395.00–411.50	$408.51	$2,120	—
553–567 unweaned	556	38	375.00–381.00	$380.19	$2,114	+12.69
630 unweaned	630	3	375.00	$375.00	$2,362	—
718	718	13	330.50	$330.50	$2,373	—
808–849	829	16	313.00–320.00	$316.82	$2,626	-3.04
863–895	876	44	301.00–313.00	$306.22	$2,682	-0.78
943–945	944	21	292.50–293.50	$293.02	$2,766	-14.68
948	948	8	289.00	$289.00	$2,740	—
959–989	977	55	286.00–293.50	$290.85	$2,842	+0.85
986	986	7	282.00	$282.00	$2,781	-8.00
1001–1019	1008	47	287.50–288.00	$287.81	$2,901	+2.64

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
414–434 unweaned	430	27	405.00–443.00	$436.23	$1,876	—
468–476 unweaned	472	23	412.50–415.00	$413.79	$1,953	+47.20
519 unweaned	519	4	365.00	$365.00	$1,894	—
570–580 unweaned	577	14	367.00–370.00	$367.85	$2,122	+12.85
1012	1012	3	282.00	$282.00	$2,854	—

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
409–413 unweaned	411	15	355.00	$355.00	$1,459	—
625 unweaned	625	3	314.00	$314.00	$1,962	—
1062	1062	6	270.00	$270.00	$2,867	-12.83
1100–1109	1107	11	257.50–260.00	$258.41	$2,861	—

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
370 unweaned	370	4	402.50	$402.50	$1,489	—
439 unweaned	439	4	390.00	$390.00	$1,712	—

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Feeder Bulls

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1315	1315	1	202.50	$202.50	$2,663	—

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Slaughter Cows

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1286	1286	80-85%	7	164.00	$164.00	$2,109	—
1290–1450	1347	80-85%	9	108.00–118.00	$114.64	$1,544	-23.45
1273–1555	1379	80-85%	30	136.50–146.00	$144.33	$1,990	—
1355–1505	1423	80-85%	4	119.00–125.00	$122.25	$1,740	—
1240–1550	1456	80-85%	8	115.00–127.50	$122.15	$1,779	—

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
835–899	881	85-90%	6	105.00–111.00	$105.95	$933	+5.92
1007–1325	1161	85-90%	6	75.00–97.00	$92.04	$1,069	-67.96
1080–1249	1188	85-90%	22	105.00–118.00	$112.35	$1,335	+3.86
1200	1200	85-90%	1	159.00	$159.00	$1,908	+38.24
1195–1240	1218	85-90%	2	119.00–125.00	$121.94	$1,485	+1.18
1231–1278	1257	85-90%	16	113.00–127.00	$119.00	$1,496	—

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1493	1493	75-80%	3	144.50	$144.50	$2,157	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1669	1669	7	173.00	$173.00	$2,887	—
1340–1940	1725	22	143.00–168.50	$160.44	$2,768	—
1838–1975	1865	5	164.00–165.00	$164.21	$3,063	-14.11
1770–2015	1873	29	165.00–177.00	$172.13	$3,224	-6.19
1885–2105	1987	3	179.00–185.50	$182.47	$3,626	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
955–1091	1049	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	14	175.00–260.00	$191.15	$2,005

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
1065–1225	1114	(<2 yrs)	Open	4	227.50–272.50	$256.48	$2,857
1135–1320	1228	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	2	190.00–252.50	$218.90	$2,688

Small 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
923	923	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	Open	3	121.00	$121.00	$1,117

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
1488	1488	Aged (>8 yrs)	1st/2nd Stage (1-6 mo)	4	137.00	$137.00	$2,039

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Open Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1150	1150	(<2 yrs)	N/A	1	225.00	$225.00	$2,588	—

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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.