Montana Weekly Livestock Auction Summary

Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Monday, January 30, 2023

1,225 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 $196.34/cwt -1.14 vs last sale · ≈ $1,227/hd at 625 lb · 90 head

heavy 6-weight M&L 1 steers $189.54/cwt +2.71 vs last sale · ≈ $1,302/hd at 687 lb · 76 head

heavy 4-weight M&L 1 heifers $210.50/cwt +6.35 vs last sale · ≈ $996/hd at 473 lb · 56 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	1,225	7,356	9,341
Feeder cattle	852	5,803	3,877
Slaughter cattle	263	1,048	971
Replacement cattle	110	505	4,493

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: All feeder cattle were too lightly tested to develop an accurate market trend, however steady undertones were noticed on all steers and heifers on offer. Quality this week was mixed from plain to attractive. Most calves were weaned this week. Heavyweight, feedlot ready cattle, continue to sell on good demand as packers continue to fill lots. Despite light offerings, demand was mostly moderate to good this week. Market activity was mostly active as buyers pushed to fill loads. Weigh up cows sold on mostly very good demand for light offerings. Extremely cold weather was seen early in the week and light supplies were seen as a result. Limited offerings pushed all cow prices sharply higher as packers showed need to fill shackle space. Feeding cow buyers were not as active this week as packers showed the strongest demand for cows. Breaking cows sold 6.00-10.00 higher, boning and lean cows sold sharply higher with most sales 7.00-15.00 higher. Quality was mostly average. Feeding cows were not well tested this week. Slaughter bulls sold steady to 3.00 higher in a narrow comparison. Young age cows suitable to feed or rebreed were not well tested this week as slaughter cow buyers absorbed many of these offerings, especially if they were over 1050 lbs.

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
443	443	4	240.00	$240.00	$1,063	-10.17
475–485	478	3	230.50–234.00	$232.82	$1,113	-3.22
510–526	520	27	212.00–233.00	$225.31	$1,172	+2.71
554–569	562	14	208.00–219.00	$213.43	$1,199	+1.33
618–639	625	90	196.00–196.50	$196.34	$1,227	-1.28
658–693	687	76	189.25–191.00	$189.54	$1,302	+2.71
782	782	27	187.00	$187.00	$1,462	+6.35

Small 2-3 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
636	636	17	71.00	$71.00	$452	—
660–663	661	19	70.00–71.00	$70.47	$466	—
747	747	31	71.00	$71.00	$530	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
391	391	8	235.00	$235.00	$919	-7.12
410–421	417	8	217.50–233.00	$227.28	$948	-5.87
560	560	4	201.00	$201.00	$1,126	+10.86
665	665	4	180.00	$180.00	$1,197	+4.98
821	821	13	168.00	$168.00	$1,379	+7.00
962	962	13	149.50	$149.50	$1,438	—

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
397	397	15	220.00	$220.00	$873	—
495	495	2	205.00	$205.00	$1,015	±0.00

Medium 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
635	635	5	137.00	$137.00	$870	—

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
753	753	3	148.00	$148.00	$1,114	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
473	473	56	210.50	$210.50	$996	+6.19
505–529	523	30	190.00–207.50	$203.04	$1,062	+2.33
559–566	562	24	185.00–192.00	$189.77	$1,067	+2.10
611	611	9	186.00	$186.00	$1,136	+8.47
653–673	661	13	166.00–177.00	$172.46	$1,140	+2.86

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
364–391	372	36	196.00–203.00	$199.24	$741	+5.67
426–448	435	12	190.00–197.00	$193.00	$840	+0.43
590	590	7	176.00	$176.00	$1,038	+3.53
618	618	2	179.00	$179.00	$1,106	+12.62

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
379	379	7	185.00	$185.00	$701	—
450–467	458	19	174.00–181.00	$177.62	$813	-20.42
523	523	19	171.00	$171.00	$894	—
681	681	4	161.00	$161.00	$1,096	—

Small 2-3 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
581	581	8	50.00	$50.00	$290	—
734	734	4	60.00	$60.00	$440	—

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
301	301	5	165.00	$165.00	$497	—
772	772	5	109.00	$109.00	$841	—

Medium 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
353	353	3	155.00	$155.00	$547	—
493	493	2	122.50	$122.50	$604	—
500	500	4	105.00	$105.00	$525	—

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
455	455	1	237.50	$237.50	$1,081	—
505–540	519	5	192.50–197.00	$195.13	$1,013	—
905	905	3	117.00	$117.00	$1,059	-12.00

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1045	1045	1	122.00	$122.00	$1,275	—
1227	1227	3	109.00	$109.00	$1,337	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
418	418	2	197.50	$197.50	$826	—

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Slaughter Cows

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
935	935	85-90%	1	67.00	$67.00	$626	+7.37
945	945	85-90%	1	73.00	$73.00	$690	+13.37
910–995	954	85-90%	9	64.00–74.00	$66.42	$634	—
1060–1140	1087	85-90%	3	58.00–62.00	$60.60	$659	-2.87
1088–1290	1178	85-90%	48	80.00–87.00	$84.85	$1,000	+23.67
1050–1293	1189	85-90%	20	74.00–79.00	$76.67	$912	+15.49
963–1298	1192	85-90%	52	81.00–89.25	$86.77	$1,034	+25.59

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1355	1355	80-85%	1	83.00	$83.00	$1,125	—
1283–1565	1372	80-85%	43	80.00–86.00	$83.88	$1,151	+14.82
1310–1475	1414	80-85%	21	75.00–82.00	$79.54	$1,125	+4.37

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1423–1783	1565	75-80%	11	82.00–89.50	$85.63	$1,340	—
1618–1715	1658	75-80%	4	75.00–80.00	$78.49	$1,301	—

N/N/A ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1760	1760	65-75%	1	84.50	$84.50	$1,487	—
1868	1868	65-75%	6	83.50	$83.50	$1,560	—
2015	2015	65-75%	1	77.00	$77.00	$1,552	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1237	1237	6	105.00	$105.00	$1,299	—
1190–1420	1275	3	85.00–94.00	$90.21	$1,150	—
1325	1325	1	72.00	$72.00	$954	—
1427–1900	1579	10	80.00–97.00	$93.10	$1,470	—
1795–2285	1972	8	98.00–110.00	$103.66	$2,044	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
828–1168	921	(<2 yrs)	Open	15	130.00–147.00	$140.30	$1,292
808–1540	1009	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	41	84.00–110.00	$99.49	$1,004

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
777–968	853	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	5	80.00–90.00	$84.54	$721
770–1140	905	(<2 yrs)	Open	14	110.00–141.50	$126.16	$1,142

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1010	1010	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	2	1,150.00	$1,150.00
1045–1242	1125	Young (2-4 yrs)	1st/2nd Stage (1-6 mo)	11	1,085.00–1,100.00	$1,091.02
1160	1160	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	1st/2nd Stage (1-6 mo)	6	1,050.00	$1,050.00

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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.