Montana Weekly Livestock Auction Summary

Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Monday, March 22, 2021

1,469 head sold ·Official USDA report

This is an archived report. See the latest Montana Weekly Livestock Auction Summary report →

heavy 7-weight M&L 1 heifers $129.84/cwt -1.53 vs last sale · ≈ $984/hd at 758 lb · 66 head

heavy 4-weight M&L 1 heifers $166.03/cwt -0.39 vs last sale · ≈ $799/hd at 481 lb · 65 head

heavy 5-weight M&L 1 heifers $143.27/cwt -9.14 vs last sale · ≈ $830/hd at 579 lb · 58 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	1,469	6,849	1,833
Feeder cattle	772	3,517	902
Slaughter cattle	393	642	388
Replacement cattle	304	315	543

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Only two sales were held this week and receipts were light. Steers all sold with steady to lower undertones. Heifers all sold with lower undertones. Quality this week was plain to average. Calves sold in small packages with no load lots on offer this trading period. Buyers showed mostly light demand for feeders as many were not willing to start loads with so few cattle to work with. CME positions gained ground every day this week. The March contract expired Thursday at 136.15 while the April closed Friday at 139.425 that's 1.475 and 5.70 higher on the March and April contracts respectfully. The May contract closed Friday at 149.875. Market activity was mostly slow to moderate this week. Weigh up cows sold on good to very good demand as packers and feeding buyers both showed good interest in purchasing cows. Packers purchased cows both to feed and send to immediate slaughter this week. Light offerings were seen this week and good demand from both packer and feeding buyers pushed cow prices higher. Feeding cows sold 1.00-3.00 higher. Slaughter cows sold steady to 2.00 higher on breaking and boning cows, lean cows sold mostly 2.00-4.00 higher. Slaughter bulls sold mostly 1.00 higher. Quality this week was mostly plain to average. Much of the center of the country is still recovering from last weeks major snowstorm and many locations are reporting muddy country conditions along with some minor flooding. This continues to disrupt the availability of cattle in the central and western Plains states. Weigh up conditions were mostly average this week, and similar to last week. Two year old to young age cows sold on mostly moderate demand this week. This class sold steady to firm, with stronger interest seen in cattle suitable to re-breed.

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
410–446	442	12	190.00–195.00	$191.43	$846	-5.70
480–487	486	17	178.00–183.00	$182.18	$885	-2.29
510–543	529	54	170.00–181.00	$172.87	$914	-1.13
550–598	585	21	160.00–167.50	$162.52	$951	-5.59
600–635	623	24	155.50–162.50	$160.21	$998	-3.31
670–695	691	17	148.00–150.50	$150.07	$1,037	-7.82
700–725	716	32	138.00–146.00	$143.42	$1,027	-0.76
830	830	5	131.00	$131.00	$1,087	—
883	883	4	132.00	$132.00	$1,166	—
928	928	2	128.00	$128.00	$1,188	+0.77

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
376–398	391	24	184.00–189.50	$185.76	$726	+5.76
451–488	470	32	164.00–175.00	$171.13	$804	+1.63
511–543	525	18	164.00–173.00	$169.62	$891	+7.99
560	560	1	157.00	$157.00	$879	+0.18
645	645	5	149.00	$149.00	$961	-5.00

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1104	1104	4	120.00	$120.00	$1,325	—

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
495	495	3	174.00	$174.00	$861	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
388	388	4	167.50	$167.50	$650	-16.77
411–445	429	17	165.50–166.00	$165.73	$711	-9.43
450–495	481	65	163.00–168.00	$166.03	$799	-0.01
505–530	517	41	147.00–167.00	$158.01	$817	-1.23
560–595	579	58	138.00–149.00	$143.27	$830	-9.14
601–634	625	56	133.50–147.00	$142.56	$891	-0.40
656–695	667	21	126.00–139.00	$131.84	$879	-7.35
706–745	718	10	124.50–132.50	$130.01	$933	-7.14
752–795	758	66	125.00–131.50	$129.84	$984	-1.39
838	838	2	114.00	$114.00	$955	-9.88

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
420–428	427	19	155.00–161.00	$157.20	$671	-3.42
457	457	5	155.00	$155.00	$708	+0.76
545	545	3	149.00	$149.00	$812	+0.32
635	635	2	136.00	$136.00	$864	—
674–695	679	8	128.00–129.00	$128.26	$871	-0.74

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
369	369	5	195.00	$195.00	$720	—
445	445	1	177.50	$177.50	$790	—
612–622	617	6	143.00–147.00	$144.98	$895	+6.98
668–685	674	3	131.00–138.00	$133.37	$899	+1.18
764	764	10	128.00	$128.00	$978	+2.50
975	975	4	113.00	$113.00	$1,102	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
473	473	11	155.00	$155.00	$733	—
556	556	6	141.00	$141.00	$784	—

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1054	1054	4	108.00	$108.00	$1,138	—
1140	1140	3	95.00	$95.00	$1,083	—
1150	1150	1	95.00	$95.00	$1,092	—

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
373	373	4	135.00	$135.00	$504	—

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Slaughter Cows

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1258–1525	1343	80-85%	76	62.00–66.25	$63.60	$854	—
1355	1355	80-85%	2	68.50	$68.50	$928	+9.22
1280–1443	1376	80-85%	19	63.50–66.50	$64.43	$887	+7.09
1332–1419	1382	80-85%	15	59.00–62.50	$61.20	$846	+3.86
1268–1570	1390	80-85%	4	67.00–67.50	$67.23	$934	+4.58
1380–1557	1502	80-85%	23	55.00–62.50	$60.85	$914	—

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
890–970	930	85-90%	2	42.00–45.00	$43.56	$405	-0.15
860–995	948	85-90%	3	51.00–55.00	$53.62	$508	+9.91
998	998	85-90%	2	65.00	$65.00	$649	+8.49
1020–1055	1038	85-90%	2	51.00–52.00	$51.49	$534	—
955–1308	1140	85-90%	28	51.50–63.00	$60.20	$686	-4.80
1065–1290	1178	85-90%	2	68.00–69.50	$68.68	$809	+14.02
1010–1352	1197	85-90%	43	61.50–66.00	$63.52	$760	+8.86
1055–1465	1217	85-90%	17	49.50–62.00	$56.03	$682	+0.20
1145–1318	1259	85-90%	38	59.50–65.00	$63.51	$800	—

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1429–1553	1479	75-80%	7	63.00–65.00	$63.75	$943	+0.85
1560–1590	1575	75-80%	2	59.00–61.00	$60.01	$945	—
1501–1813	1605	75-80%	6	64.50–65.00	$64.69	$1,038	+5.89
1555–1870	1721	75-80%	6	57.00–62.00	$60.31	$1,038	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1125	1125	1	78.00	$78.00	$878	—
1215–1395	1286	4	61.00–72.00	$65.85	$847	-12.38
1370	1370	1	83.00	$83.00	$1,137	—
1415–2165	1658	13	64.00–81.50	$76.94	$1,276	—
1440–2290	1818	23	82.00–88.50	$84.79	$1,541	—
1895–2200	2059	7	89.00–96.00	$91.81	$1,890	-0.05
2525	2525	1	92.50	$92.50	$2,336	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
745–1214	1009	(<2 yrs)	Open	91	80.00–110.00	$90.74	$916
745–1515	1063	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	41	62.00–100.00	$78.37	$833
1128–1172	1138	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	Open	26	65.00–71.00	$66.43	$756

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
928–1099	1061	(<2 yrs)	Open	9	78.00–84.00	$82.83	$879

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1133	1133	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	4	1,250.00	$1,250.00
1195	1195	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	2	1,100.00	$1,100.00
1322–1462	1398	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	86	1,110.00–1,275.00	$1,138.84
1430–1483	1460	Aged (>8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	16	875.00–975.00	$892.21

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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.