Montana Weekly Livestock Auction Summary

Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Monday, July 20, 2026

931 head sold ·Official USDA report

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

light 8-weight M&L 1 heifers $334.38/cwt ≈ $2,779/hd at 831 lb · 40 head

heavy 8-weight M&L 1 heifers $327.43/cwt ≈ $2,885/hd at 881 lb · 34 head

light 9-weight M&L 1 heifers $321.00/cwt +6.50 vs last sale · ≈ $2,982/hd at 929 lb · 29 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	931	3,620	688
Feeder cattle	401	302	238
Slaughter cattle	409	390	390
Replacement cattle	121	187	60

Market comments — USDA reporter

Only one sale was held this week as auctions continue with summer schedules. Please check out Billings livestock commission (https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/ams_1777.pdf) for the latest market commentary.

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
330 unweaned	330	1	630.00	$630.00	$2,079	-20.00
805–844	818	28	350.00–355.00	$354.00	$2,896	—
860–892	880	26	339.00–351.50	$345.97	$3,045	—
935	935	2	334.00	$334.00	$3,123	—
988	988	20	330.00	$330.00	$3,260	—
1003	1003	2	323.00	$323.00	$3,240	—
1058	1058	2	316.00	$316.00	$3,343	—

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1110	1110	6	306.00	$306.00	$3,397	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
711	711	4	385.00	$385.00	$2,737	+3.00
883	883	2	340.00	$340.00	$3,002	—

Medium 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
573	573	2	380.00	$380.00	$2,177	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
658	658	16	370.00	$370.00	$2,435	—
710–732	730	12	350.00–352.00	$350.16	$2,556	-9.84
775	775	2	340.00	$340.00	$2,635	-18.00
830–833	831	40	331.00–338.50	$334.38	$2,779	—
862–888	880	31	325.00–332.00	$329.92	$2,903	—
890–893	892	3	295.00–315.00	$301.65	$2,691	—
929	929	29	321.00	$321.00	$2,982	+6.50
1085	1085	4	274.00	$274.00	$2,973	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
746	746	4	336.00	$336.00	$2,507	-14.00
775	775	5	327.50	$327.50	$2,538	-17.50
1112	1112	3	279.00	$279.00	$3,102	—

Medium 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
519	519	4	360.00	$360.00	$1,868	—

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1127	1127	3	250.00	$250.00	$2,818	—

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
625	625	2	335.00	$335.00	$2,094	—

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
343	343	2	410.00	$410.00	$1,406	—

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
494 unweaned	494	6	452.50	$452.50	$2,235	—
630–640 unweaned	635	2	380.00–385.00	$382.48	$2,429	—
850	850	2	305.00	$305.00	$2,592	—

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
527	527	3	405.00	$405.00	$2,134	—

Medium 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
542	542	3	370.00	$370.00	$2,005	—

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1085	1085	2	265.00	$265.00	$2,875	—

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Slaughter Cows

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1270	1270	80-85%	1	121.00	$121.00	$1,537	-25.00
1260–1418	1294	80-85%	18	184.00–189.00	$185.73	$2,403	+39.73
1320	1320	80-85%	1	140.00	$140.00	$1,848	-17.46
1260–1525	1380	80-85%	19	149.00–165.00	$160.90	$2,220	—
1270–1640	1410	80-85%	3	164.00–168.00	$165.59	$2,335	-17.97
1300–1548	1413	80-85%	8	149.00–158.00	$154.07	$2,177	-29.49
1260–1770	1421	80-85%	71	167.00–182.50	$178.63	$2,538	-4.93

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
873–980	895	85-90%	6	140.00–165.00	$159.18	$1,425	—
940	940	85-90%	1	127.50	$127.50	$1,198	—
1000	1000	85-90%	1	160.00	$160.00	$1,600	—
1095–1280	1186	85-90%	4	146.00–155.00	$150.99	$1,791	—
1200	1200	85-90%	1	140.00	$140.00	$1,680	-25.43
1150–1285	1204	85-90%	4	172.00–182.00	$175.44	$2,112	+10.01
1181–1286	1222	85-90%	15	150.00–167.50	$154.32	$1,886	-11.11

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1533	1533	75-80%	2	182.00	$182.00	$2,790	—
1478–1715	1601	75-80%	10	170.00–174.00	$172.75	$2,766	-10.25
1500–1631	1605	75-80%	5	151.00–166.00	$163.20	$2,619	-19.80
1518–1735	1635	75-80%	10	168.00–173.50	$170.25	$2,784	+1.25

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
905–1365	1160	4	167.50–191.00	$182.62	$2,118	-6.94
1310–1440	1359	7	190.00–197.50	$194.23	$2,640	—
1468–1695	1579	7	192.50–205.00	$201.25	$3,178	—
1595–1698	1672	4	205.00–212.50	$210.71	$3,523	—
1390–2100	1769	19	184.00–206.00	$201.85	$3,571	—
1710–2355	1966	8	219.00–226.00	$221.80	$4,361	—
1390–2325	1977	33	207.00–218.00	$211.38	$4,179	—
1793–2285	1986	18	208.00–219.00	$212.72	$4,225	—
1890–2315	2140	5	225.00–235.00	$230.01	$4,922	—
2790	2790	1	221.00	$221.00	$6,166	—

YG2-3 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
2335	2335	1	211.00	$211.00	$4,927	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
1005–1223	1149	(<2 yrs)	Open	7	235.00–265.00	$250.43	$2,877
1115–1405	1232	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	16	188.50–265.00	$217.07	$2,674
1313	1313	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	Open	3	179.00	$179.00	$2,350

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
990–1395	1170	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	4	181.00–262.50	$203.00	$2,375

Medium 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
755	755	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	1	240.00	$240.00	$1,812

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Bred Heifers

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1264	1264	Young (2-4 yrs)	1st/2nd Stage (1-6 mo)	4	2,900.00	$2,900.00

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1173	1173	(<2 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	2	3,150.00	$3,150.00
1325	1325	Young (2-4 yrs)	1st/2nd Stage (1-6 mo)	1	3,000.00	$3,000.00

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Beef Dairy Heifers

Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
829	829	5	311.00	$311.00	$2,578	—
926	926	25	307.50	$307.50	$2,847	—

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Beef Dairy Steers

Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
947	947	32	328.00	$328.00	$3,106	—
1027	1027	12	312.00	$312.00	$3,204	—

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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
1189	1189	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	Open	5	3,775.00	$3,775.00	—
1430–1558	1515	Aged (>8 yrs)	Open	3	3,500.00–3,800.00	$3,705.63	+255.63

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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.