Public Auction Yards Livestock Cattle Auction Market Report

Billings, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Wednesday, March 3, 2021

2,377 head sold ·Official USDA report

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

light 6-weight M&L 1 steers $155.50/cwt ≈ $958/hd at 616 lb · 21 head

heavy 3-weight M&L 1 heifers $179.00/cwt +8.00 vs last sale · ≈ $652/hd at 364 lb · 18 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	2,377	1,068	607
Feeder cattle	85	275	167
Slaughter cattle	547	528	185
Replacement cattle	1,745	265	255

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Feeder cattle were too lightly tested to develop any market trend. Demand was moderate for light offerings. Quality this week was mostly average. Market activity was slow to moderate. Weigh up cows sold on mostly moderate to good demand for moderate to heavy offerings. Packers were aggressive as they purchased cows to feed this week. Many sets of tested open cows were seen this week off the bred offerings and quality was mostly attractive. Packers and feeding buyers battled all sale over high quality offerings. Packers showed slightly stronger demand for slaughter cows this week as well. Slaughter cows sold mostly steady to 1.00 higher. Feeding cows sold steady to 2.00 higher on a higher quality offering. Slaughter bulls sold steady to firm. Weigh up conditions were mostly average to above average this week and buyers offered premiums for high dressing cows as a result. Two year old to young age cows were too lightly tested last week to develop an accurate market trend, however higher undertones were noticed. Several sets of open coming 3 and coming 4 year old cows sold as load lots this week. These offerings were very attractive and all one iron home raised cows. These offerings were met with very good demand. The annual calving time bred cow special was held today and the stands were full of ranchers and order buyers throughout the afternoon buying cows that were right on calving. Demand for bred cows was mostly moderate to good.

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
423	423	2	193.00	$193.00	$816	+9.00
570	570	3	159.50	$159.50	$909	—
616	616	21	155.50	$155.50	$958	—

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
546	546	4	144.00	$144.00	$786	—

Medium 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
500	500	3	132.00	$132.00	$660	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
364	364	18	179.00	$179.00	$652	+8.00
658	658	4	134.00	$134.00	$882	+1.00

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
566	566	5	141.00	$141.00	$798	—

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
510	510	1	157.50	$157.50	$803	—
611	611	5	136.00	$136.00	$831	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
470	470	1	157.00	$157.00	$738	—

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Slaughter Cows

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
895	895	85-90%	1	44.00	$44.00	$394	+6.00
870–990	954	85-90%	5	51.00–53.00	$52.19	$498	+1.11
1115–1185	1150	85-90%	6	46.00–47.50	$46.73	$537	+10.56
1018–1348	1170	85-90%	59	49.00–58.00	$53.23	$623	+17.06
1005–1355	1203	85-90%	52	58.00–63.00	$59.89	$720	+0.80
1195–1290	1239	85-90%	53	58.00–64.50	$63.09	$782	+8.42
1250	1250	85-90%	1	65.00	$65.00	$812	—

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1280	1280	80-85%	1	57.00	$57.00	$730	—
1341–1650	1364	80-85%	95	65.00–68.00	$66.89	$912	+5.82
1183–1675	1370	80-85%	30	52.00–58.50	$55.71	$763	-5.36
1400	1400	80-85%	1	43.00	$43.00	$602	-23.59
1315–1559	1461	80-85%	25	58.00–65.50	$63.12	$922	—
1365–1640	1528	80-85%	14	59.00–64.25	$61.39	$938	+11.39
1795	1795	80-85%	1	65.00	$65.00	$1,167	—

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1379–1770	1468	75-80%	55	59.50–65.00	$60.78	$892	—
1404–1576	1498	75-80%	11	66.00–67.00	$66.57	$997	—
1585	1585	75-80%	1	49.50	$49.50	$785	-12.56
1580–1775	1678	75-80%	2	66.00–66.50	$66.26	$1,112	—
1555–1890	1693	75-80%	21	54.00–60.00	$57.24	$969	—
1538–2020	1732	75-80%	9	60.50–62.50	$61.34	$1,062	—
1833	1833	75-80%	3	60.50	$60.50	$1,109	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1660–1783	1734	5	77.00–83.00	$80.70	$1,399	—
1470–2355	1844	10	85.00–90.50	$87.86	$1,620	—
1870–2515	2169	7	91.00–94.00	$91.97	$1,995	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
770 thin fleshed	770	(<2 yrs)	Open	1	85.00	$85.00	$654
920–1075 thin fleshed	1023	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	3	55.00–58.00	$57.10	$584
925–1170	1030	(<2 yrs)	Open	46	90.00–109.00	$95.66	$985
818–1385	1060	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	194	61.00–104.75	$85.58	$907
1251	1251	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	Open	18	65.00	$65.00	$813

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1144–1338	1209	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	231	1,350.00–1,675.00	$1,545.75
1221–1248	1243	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	27	1,200.00–1,385.00	$1,351.35
1128–1300 thin fleshed	1247	Aged (>8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	34	700.00–835.00	$797.22
1155–1470 thin fleshed	1251	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	23	1,275.00–1,300.00	$1,291.06
1263–1381	1298	Aged (>8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	112	860.00–1,025.00	$917.79
1145–1508	1313	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	71	1,300.00–1,575.00	$1,458.48
1192–1430	1318	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	16	1,350.00–1,425.00	$1,392.40
1238–1470	1335	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	110	1,025.00–1,350.00	$1,212.25
1343 thin fleshed	1343	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	5	775.00	$775.00
1346 thin fleshed	1346	Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	6	735.00	$735.00
1330–1364	1353	Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	81	985.00–1,060.00	$1,031.61
1281–1515	1354	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	31	910.00–1,075.00	$989.18
1364–1458 fancy	1394	Aged (>8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	100	1,350.00	$1,350.00
1398	1398	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	3	1,350.00	$1,350.00

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
1110–1351	1297	Aged (>8 yrs)	1st/2nd Stage (1-6 mo)	9	56.50–59.50	$57.07	$740
1763	1763	Aged (>8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	11	59.50	$59.50	$1,049

Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1572	1572	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	3	1,275.00	$1,275.00

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Bred Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
874 thin fleshed	874	(<2 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	76	1,260.00–1,300.00	$1,288.95
923–1105	1045	(<2 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	182	1,335.00–1,600.00	$1,466.63

Medium 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
857	857	(<2 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	12	1,185.00	$1,185.00

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Cow-Calf Pairs

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
1295	1295	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	Open	6	1,700.00	$1,700.00	—

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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.