Montana Weekly Livestock Auction Summary

Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Monday, April 8, 2024

1,452 head sold ·Official USDA report

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

heavy 6-weight M&L 1 heifers $263.98/cwt -7.07 vs last sale · ≈ $1,808/hd at 685 lb · 32 head

heavy 5-weight M&L 1 steers $321.62/cwt -13.09 vs last sale · ≈ $1,840/hd at 572 lb · 32 head

light 6-weight M&L 1 heifers $272.35/cwt -12.75 vs last sale · ≈ $1,702/hd at 625 lb · 30 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	1,452	6,588	5,445
Feeder cattle	706	5,526	3,953
Slaughter cattle	436	470	898
Replacement cattle	310	592	594

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Too few sales were seen for either steers or heifers to develop an accurate market trend, however steady to lower undertones were noticed on a lighter, lower quality offering. Cattle suitable to develop on grass sold with the best demand. Most cattle on offer were lightly fleshed and met the weight requirements buyers were looking for in grass cattle. Demand over all was moderate to good for light offerings. Timely rains and mountain snow has helped improve drought conditions over this past week. See the drought monitor for an updated look at the drought at https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?MT. CME positions continue to show lower movement as lower live cattle prices and cash sales have caused feeder prices to back up significantly in the last couple weeks. The April feeder contract closed Friday at 237.60, May closed at 234.20 and August at 245.50. Market activity this week was mostly moderate to active. Weigh up cows sold on good to very good demand for light offerings. Packers continue to show very good demand for cows for immediate harvest. Packers were also forced to compete with feeding buyers as well as a few ranchers looking for young cows to turn out and rebreed. Quality this week was mostly average to attractive. Packers showed very good demand for slaughter cows this week. Slaughter cows sold generally steady on all offerings. Feeding cows suitable to feed to premium white sold unevenly steady. Slaughter bulls sold steady to weak. Young age cows suitable to feed or rebreed sold generally steady in a narrow comparison. Demand remains good for high quality offerings which buyers are looking to rebreed.

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
374	374	4	380.00	$380.00	$1,421	-21.28
420–440	432	5	361.00–370.00	$363.04	$1,568	-26.45
475–487	483	12	330.00–360.00	$351.40	$1,697	-23.30
503–540	521	10	322.50–327.00	$325.44	$1,696	-25.05
565–574	572	32	312.00–324.00	$321.62	$1,840	-13.09
610–648	615	17	292.50–309.00	$306.25	$1,883	-8.93
655–683	675	23	274.00–284.00	$279.68	$1,888	-17.95
708–730	721	7	264.00–272.00	$269.54	$1,943	+1.04
768	768	2	242.00	$242.00	$1,859	-10.20
851	851	6	237.00	$237.00	$2,017	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
580	580	1	308.00	$308.00	$1,786	-4.64
605	605	2	283.00	$283.00	$1,712	-3.68
675	675	1	266.00	$266.00	$1,796	-8.96

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
368–393	381	4	322.50–325.00	$323.71	$1,233	-21.52
413–414	414	6	300.00–320.00	$306.66	$1,270	-26.95
485–490	487	5	303.00–307.00	$305.39	$1,487	-16.31
512–544	529	28	284.00–303.00	$295.07	$1,561	-16.75
560–588	577	14	274.00–282.00	$278.38	$1,606	-21.45
608–640	625	30	261.00–283.00	$272.35	$1,702	-12.75
651–697	685	32	256.00–267.00	$263.98	$1,808	-7.07
725–748	738	12	240.00–244.00	$242.36	$1,789	-21.88
773–793	788	15	224.00–239.00	$229.94	$1,812	-26.92
854	854	10	198.00	$198.00	$1,691	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
394	394	9	305.00	$305.00	$1,202	-30.15
404–415	406	5	255.00–290.00	$282.85	$1,148	-35.55
476	476	4	302.50	$302.50	$1,440	-2.45
503–540	510	15	265.00–285.00	$279.04	$1,423	-1.67
555–595	589	12	240.00–273.00	$262.05	$1,543	-11.37
604	604	5	269.00	$269.00	$1,625	-0.95
675	675	2	230.00	$230.00	$1,552	-21.61
775–790	785	3	206.00–207.00	$206.67	$1,622	-36.37

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
338	338	2	255.00	$255.00	$862	-53.48
541	541	6	240.00	$240.00	$1,298	-11.64
595	595	2	220.00	$220.00	$1,309	-22.00

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
90	90	2	450.00	$450.00	—

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
503	503	2	310.00	$310.00	$1,559	—
610	610	5	285.00	$285.00	$1,738	-24.00
810	810	2	210.00	$210.00	$1,701	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
100	100	6	485.00–500.00	$487.50	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
305	305	1	355.00	$355.00	$1,083	—
395	395	1	370.00	$370.00	$1,462	-5.00
520	520	1	307.50	$307.50	$1,599	+16.07
720	720	3	227.50	$227.50	$1,638	-25.50

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
85	85	2	475.00	$475.00	—

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Slaughter Cows

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1240–1850	1409	75-80%	67	128.00–143.50	$138.99	$1,958	—
1475	1475	75-80%	1	146.00	$146.00	$2,154	+26.80
1415–1628	1513	75-80%	24	115.00–129.00	$120.25	$1,819	—
1325–1925	1549	75-80%	54	124.00–140.00	$133.13	$2,062	—

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1145–1375	1205	80-85%	12	135.00–135.50	$135.08	$1,628	—
1250–1325	1288	80-85%	2	121.50–126.00	$123.68	$1,593	—
1158–1530	1318	80-85%	44	119.50–144.00	$129.73	$1,710	-7.10
1050–1553	1324	80-85%	36	121.00–138.00	$129.88	$1,720	-6.95
1288–1595	1386	80-85%	10	112.00–129.00	$120.97	$1,677	—

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
900–1070	990	85-90%	3	101.00–107.50	$104.32	$1,033	—
1030–1215	1103	85-90%	3	91.00–98.00	$93.82	$1,035	-15.60
1045–1285	1131	85-90%	4	135.00–142.50	$137.90	$1,560	+28.48
985–1370	1144	85-90%	11	112.00–127.50	$118.42	$1,355	—
1190	1190	85-90%	1	135.50	$135.50	$1,612	—
1075–1390	1214	85-90%	19	110.00–131.50	$122.52	$1,487	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1435–1870	1590	3	112.00–130.00	$122.97	$1,955	—
1405–2265	1907	45	124.00–155.00	$139.83	$2,667	—
1915–2513	2220	4	145.00–154.00	$150.52	$3,342	—

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1470	1470	1	137.00	$137.00	$2,014	—
1485–2265	1855	9	146.00–155.00	$151.45	$2,809	—
1925	1925	1	158.00	$158.00	$3,042	—
2605	2605	1	169.00	$169.00	$4,402	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
813–1119	929	(<2 yrs)	Open	144	147.00–208.00	$187.64	$1,743
783–1210	1050	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	98	151.00–180.00	$168.73	$1,772

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
740–1300	936	(<2 yrs)	Open	49	173.00–230.00	$205.21	$1,921
800–1270	1133	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	14	135.00–185.00	$157.13	$1,780

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
988–1335	1062	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	16	1,900.00–2,450.00	$2,367.49
960–1335	1173	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	5	1,800.00–2,400.00	$2,284.72
1483–1515	1494	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	3	1,700.00–1,850.00	$1,750.71
1583	1583	Aged (>8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	2	1,975.00	$1,975.00

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Bred Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1152	1152	(<2 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	10	2,900.00	$2,900.00

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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.