Montana Weekly Livestock Auction Summary

Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Monday, March 7, 2022

2,409 head sold ·Official USDA report

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

light 6-weight M&L 1 steers $179.87/cwt -9.87 vs last sale · ≈ $1,142/hd at 635 lb · 206 head

light 5-weight M&L 1 heifers $183.60/cwt -2.68 vs last sale · ≈ $968/hd at 527 lb · 106 head

heavy 4-weight M&L 1 heifers $194.54/cwt +0.72 vs last sale · ≈ $883/hd at 454 lb · 100 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	2,409	6,734	7,815
Feeder cattle	1,179	2,386	4,586
Slaughter cattle	619	1,831	897
Replacement cattle	611	2,517	2,332

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Steer calves under 650 lbs sold mostly 5.00-10.00 lower in a narrow comparison; steers over 650 lbs were too lightly tested to develop any market trend. Heifer calves under all sold 2.00-7.00 lower all comparisons are narrow. Quality this week was mostly plain to average. Outside of the few bigger consignments this week, cattle quality was mostly plain. Cattle suitable to develop into yearlings sold on mostly moderate to good demand this week. Demand for feeder cattle returned to a more normal pattern this week as buyers showed more interest in buying cattle despite market uncertainty. Feed costs fell sharply as the market ran out of buyers and many seemed willing to take the profit they made the last 2 weeks and run. This week the August feeder cattle contract settled at 177.075, 0.975 higher than last week. CME feeder cattle positions traded higher from mid week on as gain prices eased some. The March closed at 153.275, up 0.15 from last week, the April closed at 157.975, 0.725 higher. Market activity this week was mostly moderate to active with a good crowd on hand at ever sale this week. Weigh up cows sold on mostly good demand for moderate offerings. Packers continue to send large volumes of cows to slaughter this week. Slaughter cows sold mostly 1.00-2.00 higher on boning and lean cows. Breaking and premium white cows were too lightly tested to develop an accurate market trend, however steady to higher undertones were noticed. Packers opted to send a portion of high quality cows to feed again this week. Feeding buyers were active this week as well and pushed packer buyers on most all offerings this week. Thin or poorer quality cows that packers have been sending to slaughter were purchased by feeding buyers this week as they competed with packer buyers over these offerings. Feeding cows sold steady to 3.00 higher with the biggest increase coming from lower quality feeding cows. Cow quality this week was average to very attractive. Weigh up conditions were mixed this week. Slaughter bulls sold steady to 3.00 higher. Young age cows suitable to feed or rebreed sold generally steady. Most of the <2 year olds are now comprised of heifers or heifers which lost calves. These offerings continue to be met with very good demand to both feed and rebreed. Replacement type offerings continue to be met with very good demand as ranchers search for cows as old as 5 years old to rebreed this summer.

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
333 unweaned	333	4	215.00	$215.00	$716	—
373–375	374	5	215.00–221.00	$217.41	$813	—
431–449	437	12	212.50–217.50	$215.79	$943	-1.98
475–498	481	63	210.00–217.00	$212.35	$1,021	-10.76
503–542	538	91	200.00–210.00	$206.81	$1,113	-5.26
568–575	570	10	184.00–194.00	$193.00	$1,100	-11.09
610–647	635	206	175.00–183.00	$179.87	$1,142	-9.87
683–688	684	15	165.00–167.00	$166.60	$1,140	-6.89
705–742	729	14	158.00–163.00	$159.73	$1,164	-8.01
763–791	777	18	149.00–155.00	$151.53	$1,177	-4.15

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
376–389	381	22	202.00–214.00	$207.93	$792	—
510–527	523	4	184.00–195.00	$186.68	$976	-10.06
603	603	3	170.00	$170.00	$1,025	—
690	690	4	160.00	$160.00	$1,104	-6.00
796	796	4	145.00	$145.00	$1,154	—

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
725	725	2	120.00	$120.00	$870	—

↑ Back to top

Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
327 unweaned	327	3	187.50	$187.50	$613	—
355	355	4	185.00	$185.00	$657	-5.19
412–419	418	18	187.00–199.00	$197.03	$824	+0.35
450–472	454	100	186.00–196.50	$194.54	$883	+0.72
500–546	527	106	177.00–186.00	$183.60	$968	-2.68
555–597	582	34	165.00–182.00	$170.34	$991	-10.67
604–636	621	29	161.00–162.00	$161.56	$1,003	-6.31
654–676	664	15	152.00–165.50	$159.09	$1,056	-7.31
716–723	716	58	143.50–154.50	$153.73	$1,101	+3.61
813	813	17	145.00	$145.00	$1,179	-0.25
913	913	2	135.00	$135.00	$1,233	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
331 unweaned	331	7	172.50	$172.50	$571	—
386	386	7	182.00	$182.00	$703	-2.51
405–445	432	34	170.00–180.00	$178.02	$769	-18.98
471–494	482	10	170.00–180.00	$172.77	$833	-13.19
570	570	2	161.00	$161.00	$918	+7.78
603	603	6	154.00	$154.00	$929	—
696	696	8	142.00	$142.00	$988	+4.00
728	728	3	142.50	$142.50	$1,037	+5.50
753–797	775	6	141.00–142.00	$141.49	$1,097	—

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
427	427	9	185.50	$185.50	$792	—
491	491	9	180.50	$180.50	$886	-8.50
546	546	4	169.00	$169.00	$923	—

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
452	452	19	150.00	$150.00	$678	-21.00

Medium 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
403	403	12	162.50	$162.50	$655	—

↑ Back to top

Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
833–848	839	7	134.00	$134.00	$1,124	+4.00
933–936	935	9	132.00–133.50	$132.33	$1,237	+3.33

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1002–1040	1007	7	104.00–126.00	$122.76	$1,236	+4.98
1120	1120	2	104.00	$104.00	$1,165	-6.00
1190	1190	1	109.00	$109.00	$1,297	—
1202–1225	1207	5	101.00–102.00	$101.80	$1,229	—

↑ Back to top

Slaughter Cows

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
903	903	85-90%	4	64.00	$64.00	$578	—
920–965	943	85-90%	2	72.00–78.00	$74.93	$707	+3.93
895–990	945	85-90%	4	62.00–72.00	$67.47	$638	-3.53
898–1225	1143	85-90%	44	62.50–74.50	$71.21	$814	+13.94
1000–1338	1160	85-90%	83	61.50–74.00	$70.24	$815	+1.54
925–1255	1177	85-90%	8	80.00–81.00	$80.39	$946	+0.90
1015–1250	1181	85-90%	10	58.00–60.50	$59.41	$702	-20.08
990–1328	1209	85-90%	103	73.50–79.50	$76.55	$925	+1.30
1170–1280	1219	85-90%	39	73.50–81.00	$76.09	$928	+0.84
1235	1235	85-90%	1	81.00	$81.00	$1,000	+5.75

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1300–1360	1335	80-85%	3	83.00–86.50	$84.81	$1,132	—
1300–1468	1395	80-85%	27	74.00–83.00	$79.58	$1,110	-1.80
1313–1560	1440	80-85%	6	83.00–85.50	$84.62	$1,219	+7.41
1455	1455	80-85%	1	71.00	$71.00	$1,033	—
1420–1570	1491	80-85%	5	70.50–74.50	$72.82	$1,086	—
1260–1613	1493	80-85%	25	74.00–83.50	$78.30	$1,169	—

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1490–1610	1550	75-80%	2	74.00–78.50	$76.16	$1,180	-5.74
1534–1783	1583	75-80%	44	80.00–85.00	$82.25	$1,302	+7.55
1633	1633	75-80%	3	78.00	$78.00	$1,274	—
1453–1960	1668	75-80%	11	79.50–84.00	$81.51	$1,360	+5.96

N/N/A ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1492	1492	65-75%	40	83.00	$83.00	$1,238	—

↑ Back to top

Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1205–1235	1220	2	80.00	$80.00	$976	—
1395–1675	1544	13	75.00–96.00	$88.61	$1,368	—
1290–2015	1653	2	94.00–100.00	$97.66	$1,614	—
1245–1740	1654	11	75.00–91.50	$88.68	$1,467	—
1435–2285	1786	18	91.00–102.00	$97.23	$1,737	—
2005–2265	2178	3	109.50–112.50	$111.58	$2,430	+8.21

YG2-3 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
2065	2065	2	115.00	$115.00	$2,375	—

↑ Back to top

Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
760 thin fleshed	760	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	1	71.00	$71.00	$540
620–1300	959	(<2 yrs)	Open	116	101.00–137.50	$124.91	$1,198
680–1560	1019	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	109	73.00–115.00	$92.59	$943

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
795 thin fleshed	795	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	1	61.00	$61.00	$485
847–990	885	(<2 yrs)	Open	8	113.00–120.00	$115.51	$1,022

↑ Back to top

Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
967	967	Young (2-4 yrs)	1st/2nd Stage (1-6 mo)	14	1,035.00	$1,035.00
978–1145	1013	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	24	1,410.00–1,450.00	$1,419.42
1194–1544	1320	Aged (>8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	122	935.00–1,225.00	$1,088.76
1201–1533	1341	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	72	1,235.00–1,425.00	$1,351.18

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
1361	1361	Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	9	79.00	$79.00	$1,075
1580	1580	Aged (>8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	2	78.00	$78.00	$1,232

↑ Back to top

Bred Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1006–1075	1064	(<2 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	24	1,400.00–1,600.00	$1,568.47

↑ Back to top

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.