Powell Livestock Market Report

Smithfield, North Carolina · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Thursday, March 30, 2023

388 head sold ·Official USDA report

This is an archived report. See the latest Powell Livestock Market report →

heavy 4-weight M&L 1 heifers $165.33/cwt -3.54 vs last sale · ≈ $787/hd at 476 lb · 17 head

heavy 5-weight M&L 1 steers $194.31/cwt -6.44 vs last sale · ≈ $1,117/hd at 575 lb · 16 head

light 4-weight M&L 1 heifers $167.95/cwt +2.06 vs last sale · ≈ $707/hd at 421 lb · 14 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	388	542	358
Feeder cattle	328	480	272
Slaughter cattle	59	62	76
Replacement cattle	1	—	10

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week slaughter cattle were 2.00 to 4.00 lower. Feeder cattle were 4.00 to 8.00 lower. Demand was good; market activity and buyer interest were active. Offerings of cattle were moderate. Cattle quality was average.

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
304	304	1	200.00	$200.00	$608	-25.00
380	380	1	190.00	$190.00	$722	-31.51
394	394	1	225.00	$225.00	$886	+3.49
418–432	425	2	190.00–209.00	$199.66	$849	-20.81
455–496	471	4	180.00–201.00	$190.15	$896	-9.33
510–538	527	4	180.00–194.00	$188.33	$992	-10.17
564–576	575	16	180.00–213.00	$194.31	$1,117	-6.44
612	612	1	185.00	$185.00	$1,132	—
650–653 value added	651	9	188.00–189.00	$188.22	$1,225	—

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
214	214	1	190.00	$190.00	$407	-14.41
300–326	313	2	170.00–175.00	$172.60	$540	-14.76
392	392	1	172.50	$172.50	$676	-12.82
460	460	1	140.00	$140.00	$644	-48.00
516	516	2	171.00	$171.00	$882	—
570	570	1	138.00	$138.00	$787	-24.50
570–598	585	3	144.00–168.00	$158.82	$929	-3.68
600	600	1	148.00	$148.00	$888	+10.34

Medium 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
222–234	228	2	160.00	$160.00	$365	-6.02
422–426	424	2	150.00–160.00	$155.02	$657	-14.98
458	458	1	141.00	$141.00	$646	—

Small 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
240	240	1	140.00	$140.00	$336	—
330	330	1	123.00	$123.00	$406	—
376	376	1	136.00	$136.00	$511	—
478–498	488	2	106.00–110.00	$108.04	$527	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
224	224	1	162.50	$162.50	$364	-10.00
252–298	279	3	165.00–167.50	$166.21	$464	-13.28
308–346	331	5	166.00–190.00	$173.50	$574	-1.72
350–396	371	10	162.50–192.00	$175.81	$652	-3.97
402–448	421	14	160.00–180.00	$167.95	$707	+2.06
456–498	476	17	155.00–184.00	$165.33	$787	-3.54
510–540	531	5	150.00–160.00	$155.46	$825	+3.20
565–588	578	7	146.00–158.00	$154.43	$893	+5.67
606–644	625	2	148.00–151.00	$149.45	$934	+10.28
662	662	1	150.00	$150.00	$993	+7.24
710	710	1	148.00	$148.00	$1,051	+12.56
786	786	1	152.00	$152.00	$1,195	+24.48
800–824	815	4	132.00–146.00	$137.95	$1,124	—
842	842	1	95.00	$95.00	$800	—
850	850	1	146.00	$146.00	$1,241	+12.00
912	912	1	99.00	$99.00	$903	—
1032	1032	1	117.00	$117.00	$1,207	—

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
236	236	1	162.50	$162.50	$384	+5.14
318–348	335	4	152.50–165.00	$159.45	$534	-0.55
354–390	378	5	142.50–160.00	$150.59	$569	-5.38
402–430	413	5	144.00–152.50	$148.35	$613	—
450–488	472	6	140.00–150.00	$144.95	$684	+24.95
502–544	517	5	121.00–145.00	$134.58	$696	-4.42
564–578	573	3	140.00–146.00	$143.00	$819	+16.50
680	680	1	90.00	$90.00	$612	-25.57

Medium 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
220–244	233	3	132.50–142.50	$137.40	$320	—
268	268	1	127.50	$127.50	$342	-18.78
318–346	329	3	130.00–143.00	$138.27	$455	-1.73
400–436	414	3	130.00–139.00	$133.81	$554	+14.14
480	480	1	110.00	$110.00	$528	-16.15
664	664	1	101.00	$101.00	$671	—

Small 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
220	220	1	112.50	$112.50	$248	-1.50
368–396	378	4	95.00–131.00	$111.12	$420	—
804	804	1	70.00	$70.00	$563	—

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
282	282	1	190.00	$190.00	$536	-31.24
314–320	317	2	200.00	$200.00	$634	-17.64
356–372	368	8	200.00–217.00	$204.87	$754	-5.62
404–448	430	10	180.00–214.00	$200.05	$860	-8.36
452–496	480	6	180.00–218.00	$198.93	$955	+24.90
514–542	537	11	170.00–194.00	$185.18	$994	+1.03
554–598	568	4	159.00–171.00	$167.59	$952	+4.86
600–639	621	5	152.00–170.00	$160.10	$994	+19.21
710	710	1	117.00	$117.00	$831	-6.90
722–729	726	5	130.00–144.00	$138.43	$1,005	+26.43
752–776	763	3	122.00–154.00	$133.86	$1,021	+4.36
834	834	1	122.00	$122.00	$1,017	+2.37
898	898	1	115.00	$115.00	$1,033	—
910	910	1	116.00	$116.00	$1,056	+1.00

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
208	208	1	177.50	$177.50	$369	—
266	266	1	185.00	$185.00	$492	—
356–398	378	4	167.50–176.00	$173.73	$657	—
438	438	1	175.00	$175.00	$766	+6.44
452–495	472	6	160.00–173.00	$167.00	$788	+4.00
506–536	521	5	150.00–166.00	$157.46	$820	-0.04
560	560	1	130.00	$130.00	$728	-10.00
570–584	578	3	138.00–161.00	$148.09	$856	+1.01
604	604	1	135.00	$135.00	$815	—
666	666	3	128.00–139.00	$131.67	$877	+11.67
724	724	1	110.00	$110.00	$796	+4.00

Medium 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
258–294	278	5	150.00–182.50	$161.67	$449	—
304–336	321	3	167.50–170.00	$169.21	$543	+14.55
368–380	374	2	165.00–167.50	$166.23	$622	—
400–440	420	2	132.00–140.00	$136.19	$572	-16.86
454–494	481	3	130.00–150.00	$140.28	$675	+5.21
506–530	518	3	120.00–142.00	$130.23	$675	+1.99
568–584	576	2	110.00–141.00	$125.28	$722	+15.28
806–832	819	2	84.00–86.00	$85.02	$696	-17.98
878	878	1	77.00	$77.00	$676	—

Small 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
360–364	362	2	126.00–130.00	$127.99	$463	—
510	510	1	112.00	$112.00	$571	+1.00
554–556	555	2	100.00–101.00	$100.50	$558	—

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Slaughter Cows

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
898–1328	1106	80-85%	16	90.00–103.00	$94.77	$1,048	—
1128–1232	1195	80-85%	3	107.00	$107.00	$1,279	—

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
700–956	842	85-90%	4	41.00–61.00	$53.48	$450	—
782–1032	883	85-90%	9	70.00–84.00	$80.31	$709	+17.68
814–1280	995	85-90%	3	90.00–91.00	$90.27	$898	+5.63

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1300–1716	1483	75-80%	4	72.00–85.00	$79.57	$1,180	—
1412–1616	1507	75-80%	3	90.00–100.00	$94.44	$1,423	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
900–1734	1233	9	88.00–113.00	$100.85	$1,243	—
1236	1236	1	85.00	$85.00	$1,051	—
1436–1598	1517	2	117.00–119.00	$118.05	$1,791	—

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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
856	856	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	Open	1	1,100.00	$1,100.00	—

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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.