Public Auction Yards Livestock Cattle Auction Market Report

Billings, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Wednesday, November 18, 2020

3,162 head sold ·Official USDA report

This is an archived report. See the latest Public Auction Yards Livestock Cattle Auction report →

light 7-weight M&L 1 heifers $139.50/cwt ≈ $1,032/hd at 740 lb · 49 head

light 8-weight M&L 1 heifers $130.86/cwt +0.86 vs last sale · ≈ $1,062/hd at 812 lb · 47 head

heavy 4-weight M&L 1 steers $170.65/cwt ≈ $831/hd at 487 lb · 27 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	3,162	2,544	2,533
Feeder cattle	502	569	632
Slaughter cattle	1,988	1,553	201
Replacement cattle	672	422	1,700

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Yearling steers and heifers were too lightly tested last sale to develop an accurate market trend, however higher undertones were noticed. Demand for yearlings was mostly moderate to good. Unweaned steer calves under 550 lbs sold mostly 10.00-20.00 higher in a narrow comparison; unweaned steers over 550 lbs sold steady to 3.00 higher. Unweaned heifer calves under 550 lbs sold mostly 8.00-9.00 higher in a narrow comparison. Demand this week was mostly moderate to good. Quality overall was better this week compared to last. Calves were fresher in appearance with most coming fresh off the cow. Market activity this week was mostly moderate to active. Weigh up cows sold on mostly moderate demand for heavy offerings. Cow quality this week was average to attractive. Many long strings of cows were seen this week and buyers had the opportunity to buy one iron home raised cows. Packers opted to send most cows to feed this sale. Packers purchased cows for both short term, holiday feed, as well as, high quality cows suitable to feed to premium white. Demand started the sale mostly light but improved to light to moderate as buyers competed over high quality offerings. Slaughter cows sold mostly 1.00-3.00 lower. Feeding cows started out mostly 2.00 lower but improved to near steady as the sale progressed. Buyers looking for exposed cows also helped improve demand to some degree as they purchased cows to feed. Some will calve these cows out, while others will ship these cows before calving. Slaughter bulls sold frim as packers pushed feeding buyers in order to buy some bulls away from feeding buyers. Two year old to young age cows sold on mostly good demand this sale. Quality was average to very attractive. Buyers showed good demand for one iron home raised cows. Several load lots of this class of cows were seen this week. These cows sold 15.00-18.00 higher than last week.

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
396 unweaned	396	16	189.00	$189.00	$748	+8.00
407–435 unweaned	419	14	186.00–189.00	$188.23	$789	+21.54
473–489 unweaned	487	27	170.00–176.00	$170.65	$831	—
503–504 unweaned	504	10	164.00	$164.00	$827	+16.15
572 unweaned	572	22	150.00	$150.00	$858	+4.15
620–645 unweaned	630	12	137.00–141.50	$139.49	$879	+2.16
656 unweaned	656	7	137.00	$137.00	$899	+0.36
661	661	4	140.00	$140.00	$925	+1.00
712 unweaned	712	3	138.50	$138.50	$986	—
757–788 unweaned	773	6	129.00–137.50	$133.34	$1,031	—
774	774	18	134.00	$134.00	$1,037	—
879	879	16	135.50	$135.50	$1,191	-2.00
922	922	3	125.00	$125.00	$1,152	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
382 unweaned	382	3	182.00	$182.00	$695	—
434 unweaned	434	4	145.00	$145.00	$629	-18.00
531–548 unweaned	539	8	145.00–155.00	$151.71	$818	—
561–585 unweaned	569	18	132.00–148.00	$139.62	$794	—
613 unweaned	613	2	130.00	$130.00	$797	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
410–440 unweaned	414	25	152.00–153.00	$152.87	$633	+8.01
455–463 unweaned	457	13	148.00–149.00	$148.23	$677	—
507–509 unweaned	508	25	143.00–145.50	$143.70	$730	+8.70
604–619 unweaned	611	17	125.00–130.00	$127.83	$781	—
635	635	8	129.00	$129.00	$819	—
667	667	14	139.00	$139.00	$927	—
740	740	49	139.50	$139.50	$1,032	—
803	803	7	125.00	$125.00	$1,004	-5.00
809–828	813	40	126.00–135.00	$131.89	$1,072	+1.89
894	894	10	124.50	$124.50	$1,113	—
909–937	918	9	124.00–126.00	$125.32	$1,150	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
470–478 unweaned	474	4	137.00–139.00	$138.01	$654	—
500 unweaned	500	3	136.00	$136.00	$680	+4.32
554–580 unweaned	562	10	127.00–128.00	$127.31	$715	—
748	748	19	132.50	$132.50	$991	—
775	775	2	122.00	$122.00	$946	—
875–898	895	8	120.00	$120.00	$1,074	-2.00
918	918	2	117.00	$117.00	$1,074	—

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
480	480	3	167.50	$167.50	$804	—
573 unweaned	573	3	138.00	$138.00	$791	—

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1145	1145	2	83.00	$83.00	$950	-8.00

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Slaughter Cows

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
770–910	840	85-90%	2	29.00–32.00	$30.38	$255	—
870–920	895	85-90%	2	40.00–41.00	$40.51	$363	—
910	910	85-90%	1	37.00	$37.00	$337	—
1043–1095	1081	85-90%	40	57.00–63.00	$60.28	$652	—
1013–1318	1150	85-90%	64	26.00–38.50	$33.70	$388	-11.14
975–1325	1169	85-90%	163	37.00–47.00	$43.39	$507	-1.45
910–1376	1199	85-90%	51	37.00–46.50	$42.27	$507	-16.61
1050–1357	1239	85-90%	278	46.00–56.00	$51.03	$632	+0.35
1290–1340	1320	85-90%	3	46.00–48.00	$46.99	$620	—

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1185–1625	1373	80-85%	132	47.00–59.50	$53.26	$731	-8.16
1337–1503	1402	80-85%	12	45.00–48.50	$46.97	$659	+1.82
1405	1405	80-85%	1	70.00	$70.00	$984	+24.85
1331–1603	1470	80-85%	25	42.00–46.75	$44.61	$656	—
1435–1485	1472	80-85%	9	47.00–50.00	$48.67	$716	—
1278–1603	1486	80-85%	18	59.00–66.50	$62.39	$927	—
1525	1525	80-85%	1	36.00	$36.00	$549	—

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1465–1750	1567	75-80%	7	60.00–65.50	$63.10	$989	—
1450–1830	1640	75-80%	2	47.00	$47.00	$771	-19.76
1682–1805	1716	75-80%	5	64.50–68.00	$65.74	$1,128	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1425–1450	1438	2	80.50–82.00	$81.24	$1,168	—
1495–1885	1690	2	74.00–75.00	$74.44	$1,258	—
1425–2100	1755	3	77.00–81.00	$79.52	$1,396	—
1805–2090	1900	4	77.00–83.00	$80.20	$1,524	—
1440–2230	1949	8	71.00–75.50	$72.35	$1,410	—
1930–2025	1978	2	83.00–83.50	$83.26	$1,647	+5.89

YG2-3 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1696–2325	1775	8	72.00–75.00	$74.51	$1,323	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
900 thin fleshed	900	(<2 yrs)	Open	1	60.00	$60.00	$540
800–1240	910	(<2 yrs)	Open	229	67.00–110.00	$94.60	$861
835–1325	1004	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	103	52.00–100.00	$77.73	$780
1086	1086	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	Open	11	71.00	$71.00	$771

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
810–887	865	(<2 yrs)	Open	7	71.00–77.00	$72.61	$628
995–1090	1043	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	6	52.50–62.00	$57.03	$595

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1068	1068	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	1st/2nd Stage (1-6 mo)	12	935.00	$935.00
1131	1131	Young (2-4 yrs)	1st/2nd Stage (1-6 mo)	7	985.00	$985.00
1148	1148	Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	12	810.00	$810.00
1150	1150	Young (2-4 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	14	700.00	$700.00
1129–1229	1161	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	34	1,050.00–1,125.00	$1,079.51
1156–1298	1207	Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	24	635.00–700.00	$666.68

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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.