Montana Weekly Livestock Auction Summary

Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Monday, June 28, 2021

2,880 head sold ·Official USDA report

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

light 7-weight M&L 1 heifers $149.09/cwt +1.09 vs last sale · ≈ $1,047/hd at 702 lb · 104 head

heavy 6-weight M&L 1 heifers $152.95/cwt +3.77 vs last sale · ≈ $1,017/hd at 665 lb · 70 head

heavy 7-weight M&L 1 heifers $145.24/cwt +13.74 vs last sale · ≈ $1,126/hd at 775 lb · 68 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale
Total receipts	2,880	7,725
Feeder cattle	678	1,188
Slaughter cattle	1,604	2,528
Replacement cattle	598	679

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Feeder steers and heifers were too lightly tested to develop an accurate market trend, however steady to firm undertones were noticed. A short week was seen this week due to the holiday. Only 2 sales occurred for the week. Feeder cattle continue to be pushed off pasture and range due to dry conditions. Most cattle were in light flesh as a result. Quality this week was mixed from plain to attractive. Demand for feeder cattle was mostly moderate to good for light offerings. The August CME feeder cattle contract closed at 156.325 as of Thursday. Weigh up cows comprised the majority of sales again this week as ranchers continue to cull due to drought. Cow quality this week was average to attractive and overall better than last week. Demand for feeding cows was mixed as early week sales showed light to moderate demand and late week sales showed moderate to good demand. Feeding cows sold unevenly steady. Slaughter cows sold fully steady. Packers continue to show moderate demand for slaughter cows as they try to capture market share and strong profits. The cutter cow cutout has continued to inch higher over the past few days. The weekly cutout is not released until Friday, however as of this writing, Friday July 2nd the Afternoon Daily cutter cow cutout for Thursday was 229.33 up 0.28. Slaughter bulls sold mostly steady to 1.00 lower. Young age cows suitable to feed or rebreed sold steady to 4.00 lower. Cow calf pair demand is light, however cows are holding their value and so are calves. Many pairs are being split as a result.

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
405 unweaned	405	8	170.00	$170.00	$688	—
657	657	3	169.00	$169.00	$1,110	+5.69
711–715	712	14	154.00–159.00	$157.92	$1,124	+3.18
818	818	55	153.50	$153.50	$1,256	—
880	880	14	138.00	$138.00	$1,214	-3.00

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
625–633	630	3	169.00–171.00	$169.66	$1,069	+10.60
705–713	706	12	146.00–148.00	$146.34	$1,033	—
856	856	7	130.00	$130.00	$1,113	—

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
516	516	7	164.00	$164.00	$846	—
579	579	11	160.00	$160.00	$926	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
419 unweaned	419	7	141.00	$141.00	$591	—
473 unweaned	473	16	140.00	$140.00	$662	—
604	604	28	154.50	$154.50	$933	-3.00
660–694	665	70	142.50–155.00	$152.95	$1,017	+3.77
700–718	702	104	143.00–150.00	$149.09	$1,047	+1.09
771	771	52	150.00	$150.00	$1,156	+18.50
762–795	789	16	129.25–132.00	$129.75	$1,024	-1.75
830	830	1	126.00	$126.00	$1,046	+2.00
973	973	9	122.00	$122.00	$1,187	—

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
536	536	15	144.00	$144.00	$772	—
554	554	9	146.00	$146.00	$809	—
661	661	17	139.00	$139.00	$919	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
574	574	10	145.00	$145.00	$832	+9.42
645	645	2	143.00	$143.00	$922	+20.00
673–690	675	8	131.00–134.00	$133.62	$902	+2.24

Medium 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
623	623	8	121.00	$121.00	$754	—

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
313 unweaned	313	5	142.50	$142.50	$446	—

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Feeder Bulls

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1068–1094	1076	31	95.75–110.00	$100.30	$1,079	—
1120–1145	1133	2	104.00–105.00	$104.49	$1,184	—
1185	1185	1	102.00	$102.00	$1,209	-10.00
1215–1236	1232	5	101.00–105.00	$104.21	$1,284	—
1270	1270	1	99.00	$99.00	$1,257	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
808–820	809	9	110.50–120.00	$111.57	$903	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
415 unweaned	415	3	125.00	$125.00	$519	—
543	543	6	163.00	$163.00	$885	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
1102–1340	1202	(<2 yrs)	N/A	8	1,100.00–1,250.00	$1,133.56	—

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Slaughter Cows

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1060–1610	1387	80-85%	286	62.25–68.50	$65.35	$906	-0.47
1145–1608	1396	80-85%	133	67.00–78.00	$70.64	$986	-0.87
1315–1600	1405	80-85%	18	52.00–60.00	$57.65	$810	-1.55
1305–1595	1418	80-85%	21	55.00–63.00	$60.24	$854	+1.04
1275–1675	1430	80-85%	51	61.50–66.00	$63.64	$910	+4.44
1325–1625	1471	80-85%	5	67.00–73.00	$68.51	$1,008	-1.78

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
787–960	863	85-90%	8	48.00–58.00	$52.42	$452	—
960–978	972	85-90%	3	59.00–64.00	$60.65	$590	+3.65
1035–1215	1099	85-90%	5	43.00–48.50	$46.82	$515	—
980–1345	1180	85-90%	26	55.00–60.00	$57.39	$677	+0.30
1150–1253	1205	85-90%	23	66.75–69.50	$67.50	$813	+2.71
1095–1325	1212	85-90%	210	62.00–67.50	$64.33	$780	-6.13
1005–1465	1213	85-90%	105	60.50–66.50	$62.62	$760	-0.07
1020–1525	1213	85-90%	65	51.50–61.00	$57.90	$702	-4.79
1280	1280	85-90%	2	67.50	$67.50	$864	-1.26

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1413–1710	1567	75-80%	37	66.25–73.50	$69.66	$1,092	+5.82
1604	1604	75-80%	24	69.50	$69.50	$1,115	-1.14
1543–1823	1611	75-80%	27	62.00–67.50	$66.02	$1,064	-4.62
1650	1650	75-80%	1	79.00	$79.00	$1,304	—
1475–1910	1691	75-80%	16	74.00–79.50	$76.47	$1,293	—
1805	1805	75-80%	1	61.00	$61.00	$1,101	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1180–1300	1240	2	60.00–77.00	$68.09	$844	—
1160–1314	1267	20	82.00–85.50	$84.30	$1,068	+9.47
1053–1628	1283	26	81.00–87.50	$84.07	$1,079	+9.24
1120–1430	1342	6	71.00–80.00	$75.79	$1,017	—
1323–1580	1409	3	78.00–84.00	$81.76	$1,152	—
1305–1860	1519	24	66.00–82.00	$77.01	$1,170	—
1410–2240	1788	73	83.00–94.00	$87.47	$1,564	-1.63
1635–2435	2050	59	93.00–104.00	$97.66	$2,002	—

YG2-3 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
2290	2290	1	67.00	$67.00	$1,534	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
820–1413	1056	(<2 yrs)	Open	105	67.00–103.00	$80.63	$851
928–1995	1121	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	239	64.00–86.50	$72.16	$809

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
780–925	850	(<2 yrs)	Open	3	65.00–72.50	$69.28	$589
935–1125	998	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	3	60.00–65.00	$61.88	$618

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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
1476	1476	Aged (>8 yrs)	Open	10	1,260.00	$1,260.00	-0.87
1490	1490	Aged (>8 yrs)	Open	4	1,275.00	$1,275.00	+14.13
1602	1602	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	Open	13	1,450.00	$1,450.00	—
1678	1678	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	Open	5	1,400.00	$1,400.00	—
1588–1865	1680	Aged (>8 yrs)	Open	3	1,275.00–1,325.00	$1,293.50	—
1702–1785	1734	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	Open	18	1,410.00–1,450.00	$1,428.88	—

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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.