Montana Weekly Livestock Auction Summary

Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Monday, June 26, 2023

1,626 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 heifers $232.58/cwt ≈ $1,419/hd at 610 lb · 25 head

heavy 5-weight M&L 1-2 heifers $233.46/cwt +4.40 vs last sale · ≈ $1,361/hd at 583 lb · 17 head

light 7-weight M&L 1 heifers $217.00/cwt +10.41 vs last sale · ≈ $1,575/hd at 726 lb · 14 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	1,626	5,672	2,252
Feeder cattle	291	500	357
Slaughter cattle	1,088	1,105	1,348
Replacement cattle	247	992	547

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Feeder cattle were too lightly tested to develop an accurate market trend, however steady to firm undertones were noticed on heifers, steers were too lightly tested to develop any market trend. Demand was mostly good to very good on light offerings. Quality was mostly plain to average. Packages were small with many singles on offer. CME positions gained back significant ground this past week with triple digit gains seen every day except Monday. The corn market saw some set backs as rain in the central US helped ease some drought concerns. Corn was sharply lower every trading day except Monday. Market activity was mostly active this week. Weigh up cows sold on mostly good to very good demand for moderate offerings. Packers pushed to own as much of the cow offering as possible this past week as they pushed all offerings higher trying to secure offerings for the holiday week. Most sales take a break next week for the 4th of July holiday. This forces packers to try to buy for current kill needs as well as kill needs during the holiday. Packers were aggressive as they purchased cows this week. Slaughter cows sold mostly 2.00-3.00 higher on all offerings. High quality cows suitable to feed, sold steady to 3.00 higher. Cow quality was mostly average to attractive this week, and overall much more attractive than the last few weeks. Slaughter bulls sold mostly steady to 2.00 lower. Bull quality was mostly average to attractive. Weigh up conditions were mostly very attractive to buyers. Weigh up conditions were better this week than the last few weeks. Young age cows suitable to feed or rebreed sold 5.00 to 10.00 higher. Several buyers were looking for rebreed type cows this week and this helped push this class of cows higher for the week. Feeding demand also improved as the cattle market responded to lower corn prices.

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
363	363	2	270.00	$270.00	$980	—
795	795	13	224.00	$224.00	$1,781	-0.90
800	800	1	213.00	$213.00	$1,704	—
915	915	7	198.00	$198.00	$1,812	+3.50

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
548	548	6	260.00	$260.00	$1,425	—
583	583	5	252.50	$252.50	$1,472	—
610–643	635	9	240.00–253.00	$249.52	$1,584	-5.04
735	735	2	229.00	$229.00	$1,683	-3.50

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
535	535	3	240.00	$240.00	$1,284	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
566	566	13	247.00	$247.00	$1,398	-5.50
603–633	610	25	232.00–235.00	$232.58	$1,419	—
664–668	667	13	218.00–236.00	$228.14	$1,522	—
726	726	14	217.00	$217.00	$1,575	+10.41
796	796	7	199.00	$199.00	$1,584	+4.77

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
490	490	2	235.00	$235.00	$1,152	+3.59
510	510	1	235.00	$235.00	$1,198	+2.42
566–588	583	17	233.00–235.00	$233.46	$1,361	+4.40
675–682	679	6	211.00–215.00	$213.01	$1,446	+8.78

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1035	1035	12	183.00	$183.00	$1,894	—
1148	1148	6	164.00	$164.00	$1,883	—

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
478	478	6	241.00	$241.00	$1,152	—

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
588	588	2	210.00	$210.00	$1,235	—
648	648	4	211.00	$211.00	$1,367	—

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Feeder Bulls

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1020–1045	1030	—	—	4	160.00–181.00	$173.76	$1,790	-17.24
1050–1090	1070	—	—	2	161.00–176.00	$168.64	$1,804	+17.64
1115	1115	—	—	1	157.50	$157.50	$1,756	—
1160–1170	1165	—	—	3	155.00–168.00	$162.98	$1,899	—
1170	1170	(<2 yrs)	N/A	1	167.00	$167.00	$1,954	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
694	694	4	220.00	$220.00	$1,527	+16.50
818	818	2	195.00	$195.00	$1,595	+7.50
907	907	3	167.00	$167.00	$1,515	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
110–128	122	3	450.00	$450.00	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
808	808	3	205.00	$205.00	$1,656	-2.00

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
107	107	3	200.00	$200.00	—

Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1140	1140	1	149.00	$149.00	$1,699	—

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Slaughter Cows

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1345	1345	80-85%	1	92.00	$92.00	$1,237	—
1215–1760	1349	80-85%	128	95.00–105.00	$101.18	$1,365	—
1180–1575	1358	80-85%	121	99.00–106.00	$103.41	$1,404	+3.61
1260–1700	1387	80-85%	27	104.00–110.00	$106.55	$1,478	+12.71
1090–1665	1390	80-85%	18	86.00–95.00	$93.12	$1,294	-4.03
1163–1528	1401	80-85%	206	104.50–112.00	$107.18	$1,502	+2.95

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
807–980	885	85-90%	9	79.00–85.00	$83.62	$740	—
900	900	85-90%	1	72.00	$72.00	$648	—
905–950	928	85-90%	4	86.00–94.00	$88.28	$819	+6.49
945	945	85-90%	2	100.00	$100.00	$945	+18.21
1048	1048	85-90%	2	94.00	$94.00	$985	—
990–1280	1160	85-90%	17	102.00–106.00	$104.07	$1,207	-0.95
1000–1495	1173	85-90%	71	77.00–94.00	$85.76	$1,006	-19.26
995–1290	1177	85-90%	112	89.00–102.00	$95.38	$1,123	+1.22
1120–1375	1184	85-90%	29	101.50–105.50	$102.40	$1,212	+8.24
1000–1288	1213	85-90%	33	95.00–102.00	$100.25	$1,216	-3.87

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1420	1420	75-80%	3	107.00	$107.00	$1,519	-6.00
1483–1680	1574	75-80%	17	111.00–113.50	$112.20	$1,766	+10.53
1400–1765	1601	75-80%	16	105.00–110.50	$106.35	$1,703	+5.99
1345–1970	1653	75-80%	13	95.00–105.50	$102.05	$1,687	—
1670	1670	75-80%	1	112.00	$112.00	$1,870	—

N/N/A ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1573	1573	65-75%	2	120.00	$120.00	$1,888	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1070–1265	1186	4	94.00–105.00	$98.36	$1,167	—
1043–1370	1200	5	95.00–108.50	$102.16	$1,226	—
1190–1350	1246	5	109.50–118.00	$114.97	$1,433	—
1410	1410	1	125.50	$125.50	$1,770	+17.80
1320–1810	1560	18	99.00–111.00	$106.36	$1,659	—
1405–2148	1750	79	113.00–123.00	$118.30	$2,070	—
1515–1965	1930	13	116.00–124.00	$123.52	$2,384	—
1650–2335	1943	46	122.00–133.00	$126.44	$2,457	—

YG2-3 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
2435	2435	1	117.00	$117.00	$2,849	+3.00

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
840–1363	1094	(<2 yrs)	Open	53	134.00–189.00	$153.83	$1,683
880–1320	1130	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	64	102.00–155.00	$125.08	$1,413

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
813–960	877	(<2 yrs)	Open	4	125.00–150.00	$141.80	$1,244

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
680–850	765	(<2 yrs)	Open	2	157.50–160.00	$158.61	$1,213

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1210	1210	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	1	1,675.00	$1,675.00
1215	1215	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	1	1,250.00	$1,250.00
1390	1390	Aged (>8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	1	1,450.00	$1,450.00
1230–1603	1479	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	3	1,550.00–1,725.00	$1,676.48

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
1245	1245	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	1	132.00	$132.00	$1,643

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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
1240	1240	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	Open	2	2,150.00	$2,150.00	—
1292	1292	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	7	2,475.00	$2,475.00	—
1347–1690	1361	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	24	2,500.00–3,225.00	$3,187.50	+839.56
1470–1575	1496	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	Open	4	2,250.00–2,835.00	$2,681.05	—

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Heifer Pairs

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
1248	1248	(<2 yrs)	Open	9	3,000.00	$3,000.00	—

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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.