Montana Weekly Livestock Auction Summary

Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Monday, March 25, 2024

906 head sold ·Official USDA report

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

heavy 5-weight M&L 1 steers $334.00/cwt -1.62 vs last sale · ≈ $1,884/hd at 564 lb · 32 head

heavy 4-weight M&L 1 heifers $320.45/cwt -4.67 vs last sale · ≈ $1,529/hd at 477 lb · 26 head

heavy 7-weight M&L 1 steers $255.00/cwt -9.07 vs last sale · ≈ $1,984/hd at 778 lb · 16 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	906	5,332	5,846
Feeder cattle	236	4,464	4,619
Slaughter cattle	461	701	693
Replacement cattle	209	167	534

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: An early week snowstorm and poor road conditions cancelled early week sales and late week sales were slow too as a result. Too few feeder cattle sold this week to develop any market trend. Demand was mostly moderate for very light offerings. Several ranchers were in town this week buying cattle for grass, which kept prices near steady for like quality offerings compared to the previous week. Quality was mostly plain to average. CME positions struggled much of the week. Market activity this week was mostly moderate. Weigh up cows sold on good to very good demand for light offerings. Packers pounced on light offerings this week as snowy conditions have slowed to volume of cows available to the packer. Packers were also forced to compete with feeding buyers as well as a few ranchers looking for young to middle-aged cows to turn out and rebreed. Quality this week was mostly average to attractive. Weigh up conditions were average to below average this week as weather had many cows early in the week pushing heavy amounts of fill. Packers showed very good demand for slaughter cows this week as they were forced to push offerings sharply higher in order to procure them. Slaughter cows sold 2.00-6.00 higher on breaking and boning cows; lean cows sold 4.00-7.00 higher. Feeding cows suitable to feed to premium white sold mostly 5.00-10.00 higher. Slaughter bulls sold 3.00-6.00 higher. Young age cows suitable to feed or rebreed sold generally steady. Demand remains good for high quality offerings.

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
470	470	4	350.00	$350.00	$1,645	-6.60
564	564	32	334.00	$334.00	$1,884	-1.62
778	778	16	255.00	$255.00	$1,984	-9.07
823	823	2	241.00	$241.00	$1,983	-0.31
843	843	2	236.00	$236.00	$1,989	-5.31

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
410–432	421	6	337.50–342.00	$339.69	$1,430	+2.38
462–495	470	4	335.00–345.00	$342.37	$1,609	+9.26
528	528	2	333.00	$333.00	$1,758	+2.08
580–585	584	5	310.00–317.50	$311.49	$1,819	-14.74
615–630	621	4	290.00–308.00	$298.98	$1,857	+6.55
660	660	1	272.00	$272.00	$1,795	-1.60
700–725	716	9	255.00–275.00	$265.83	$1,903	+15.88
838	838	2	225.00	$225.00	$1,886	—

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
360	360	2	375.00	$375.00	$1,350	—
403	403	2	360.00	$360.00	$1,451	—

Medium 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
383	383	3	300.00	$300.00	$1,149	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
460–488	477	26	315.00–321.00	$320.45	$1,529	-4.67
572	572	3	286.00	$286.00	$1,636	-9.32
627–648	637	13	273.00–274.00	$273.53	$1,742	-18.26
691	691	5	262.00	$262.00	$1,810	-7.06

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
422	422	3	320.00	$320.00	$1,350	-2.35
510–535	527	3	290.00–293.00	$292.03	$1,539	-1.32
585–596	592	6	272.00–282.50	$275.46	$1,631	-4.90
685	685	2	242.50	$242.50	$1,661	-8.70
789	789	4	230.00	$230.00	$1,815	+6.58
917	917	3	200.50	$200.50	$1,839	+4.50

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
335	335	2	335.00	$335.00	$1,122	—
410–415	412	7	321.00–324.00	$322.29	$1,328	—

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
510	510	2	313.00	$313.00	$1,596	—
563–580	569	3	292.50–315.00	$307.35	$1,749	—
640	640	3	284.00	$284.00	$1,818	—
785	785	1	230.00	$230.00	$1,806	—
845	845	2	220.00	$220.00	$1,859	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
713	713	2	267.50	$267.50	$1,907	—
935	935	1	220.00	$220.00	$2,057	+2.16
965	965	1	215.00	$215.00	$2,075	+0.21

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Slaughter Cows

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1260–1530	1378	80-85%	29	121.00–133.00	$126.89	$1,749	+1.70
1325–1580	1388	80-85%	10	114.00–120.00	$117.62	$1,633	-7.57
1390	1390	80-85%	1	143.00	$143.00	$1,988	+17.81
1230–1693	1402	80-85%	51	123.00–136.00	$129.62	$1,817	—
1308–1555	1405	80-85%	24	107.00–119.50	$116.36	$1,635	—
1310–1640	1425	80-85%	46	135.00–145.00	$138.16	$1,969	—

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
838–940	854	85-90%	7	84.00–100.00	$87.65	$749	—
918	918	85-90%	9	117.00	$117.00	$1,074	—
980–995	990	85-90%	3	103.00–112.50	$106.80	$1,057	—
1020–1185	1046	85-90%	16	90.00–95.00	$91.23	$954	-17.77
1075	1075	85-90%	1	110.00	$110.00	$1,182	—
1090	1090	85-90%	29	128.50	$128.50	$1,401	—
1000–1305	1152	85-90%	14	101.00–112.00	$107.44	$1,238	-17.38
1053–1300	1172	85-90%	14	114.00–124.50	$118.43	$1,388	-6.39
1065–1240	1180	85-90%	3	130.00–132.50	$131.45	$1,551	+6.63
980–1290	1185	85-90%	38	116.00–131.00	$126.35	$1,497	+1.53

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1555–1608	1590	75-80%	3	116.00–128.00	$124.09	$1,973	-6.42
1500–1662	1593	75-80%	8	131.00–140.00	$135.45	$2,158	+4.94
1522–1840	1602	75-80%	4	138.00–140.00	$138.57	$2,220	—
1555–1743	1634	75-80%	5	140.00–143.00	$141.15	$2,306	—
1490–1940	1655	75-80%	24	129.00–136.00	$132.84	$2,199	+8.73
1500–1768	1686	75-80%	8	114.00–126.00	$122.07	$2,058	-2.04

N/N/A ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1685	1685	65-75%	3	141.00	$141.00	$2,376	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1115–1540	1282	5	122.50–132.00	$126.33	$1,620	—
1200–1900	1508	11	135.00–149.00	$143.27	$2,161	—
1433–2050	1713	12	113.00–125.00	$120.72	$2,068	—
1620–2085	1764	32	132.00–152.50	$142.11	$2,507	—
1845–2220	2021	7	153.00–159.50	$156.94	$3,172	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
765–1305	986	(<2 yrs)	Open	71	145.00–217.50	$188.31	$1,857
735–1345	1098	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	56	125.00–177.00	$151.17	$1,660
1123	1123	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	Open	2	132.00	$132.00	$1,482
1410	1410	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	Open	1	141.00	$141.00	$1,988

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
855–1025	940	(<2 yrs)	Open	2	155.00–180.00	$166.37	$1,564
905–1200	1007	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	5	117.00–162.50	$140.80	$1,418

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
983–1100	1022	(<2 yrs)	Open	3	160.00–178.00	$171.54	$1,753
1230	1230	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	2	123.00	$123.00	$1,513

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
660	660	(<2 yrs)	Open	1	180.00	$180.00	$1,188

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1083	1083	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	5	1,900.00	$1,900.00
1185–1360	1243	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	3	2,300.00–2,400.00	$2,336.46
1215–1305	1260	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	2	2,600.00–2,700.00	$2,648.21
1642	1642	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	3	2,500.00	$2,500.00

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1340	1340	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	5	1,800.00	$1,800.00

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Cow-Calf Pairs

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
1483	1483	Aged (>8 yrs)	Open	3	2,300.00	$2,300.00	—

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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.