Public Auction Yards Livestock Cattle Auction Market Report

Billings, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Wednesday, March 10, 2021

624 head sold ·Official USDA report

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

heavy 5-weight M&L 1 heifers $146.37/cwt ≈ $837/hd at 572 lb · 30 head

light 4-weight M&L 1 steers $190.50/cwt -2.50 vs last sale · ≈ $777/hd at 408 lb · 25 head

light 8-weight M&L 1 bulls $117.95/cwt ≈ $994/hd at 843 lb · 21 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	624	2,377	663
Feeder cattle	299	85	405
Slaughter cattle	224	547	105
Replacement cattle	101	1,745	153

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Feeder cattle were too lightly tested both this week and last to develop any market trend. Demand was light to moderate for light offerings. Demand for all feeder feed cattle was lighter this week. CME positions continue to struggle on nearby months. Lower contract prices coupled with limited offerings led to lighter demand and lower prices. Quality this week was mostly plain to average. Market activity was slow to moderate. Weigh up cow sold on moderate to good demand for light offerings. Feeding buyers were the driving force this week pushing cows mostly above where packers were willing to even buy feeding cows. Feeding cows sold mostly 1.00-2.00 higher. Weigh up conditions were average to below average this week and significantly poorer than last week. Some feeding buyers were searching for cows that could be bred within the weigh up cow offering. This created uneven demand at times. Slaughter cows sold steady to firm. Slaughter bulls sold fully steady. Two year old to young age cows sold generally steady in a narrow comparison.

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
408	408	25	190.50	$190.50	$777	-2.50
551–552	552	16	165.50–167.00	$165.97	$916	+6.47
806	806	7	127.50	$127.50	$1,028	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
372	372	3	187.50	$187.50	$698	—
463	463	2	179.00	$179.00	$829	—
606–620	612	13	143.00–149.00	$144.83	$886	—
678	678	6	138.50	$138.50	$939	—
774	774	12	127.50	$127.50	$987	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
454–483	471	17	159.50–160.00	$159.70	$752	—
528	528	9	156.50	$156.50	$826	—
562–590	572	30	145.00–152.00	$146.37	$837	—
610–637	626	9	132.00–141.50	$134.50	$842	—
672	672	21	130.00	$130.00	$874	-4.00
713	713	5	124.00	$124.00	$884	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
528	528	2	142.00	$142.00	$750	—
557–567	565	8	142.00–143.50	$142.37	$804	+1.37
695	695	2	123.00	$123.00	$855	—

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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	1	172.50	$172.50	$828	—
700	700	2	124.00	$124.00	$868	—
810–848	843	21	117.00–118.00	$117.95	$994	—
897	897	10	117.00	$117.00	$1,049	—
949	949	4	118.00	$118.00	$1,120	—

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1020	1020	1	112.00	$112.00	$1,142	—
1060 fancy	1060	1	112.00	$112.00	$1,187	—

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Slaughter Cows

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
915	915	85-90%	1	57.50	$57.50	$526	—
995	995	85-90%	1	54.00	$54.00	$537	—
940–1180	1060	85-90%	2	45.00–46.00	$45.44	$482	—
935–1255	1112	85-90%	60	53.00–57.00	$55.21	$614	—
1155	1155	85-90%	1	70.00	$70.00	$808	+23.27
1030–1303	1201	85-90%	7	53.00–57.00	$56.23	$675	-3.66
1150–1294	1249	85-90%	11	57.50–60.50	$58.55	$731	-4.54
1060–1325	1265	85-90%	17	58.00–64.00	$61.23	$775	-3.77

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1330	1330	80-85%	1	68.00	$68.00	$904	—
1255–1640	1345	80-85%	9	55.00–61.00	$58.90	$792	—
1365	1365	80-85%	1	66.00	$66.00	$901	-0.89
1380–1395	1388	80-85%	2	59.00–63.00	$60.99	$847	+5.28
1390–1430	1407	80-85%	4	51.00–59.00	$56.23	$791	+13.23
1295–1583	1449	80-85%	31	61.00–66.00	$63.52	$920	—

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1525–1715	1620	75-80%	2	52.00–56.00	$54.12	$877	—
1440–1715	1642	75-80%	5	58.00–62.00	$59.32	$974	—
1545–1760	1682	75-80%	5	62.00–65.00	$63.80	$1,073	-2.46

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1625–2150	1864	12	74.50–83.50	$78.54	$1,464	—
1635–2225	1934	7	84.00–90.50	$86.14	$1,666	—
1775–2465	2030	5	91.50–93.00	$92.35	$1,875	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
850–1285	982	(<2 yrs)	Open	15	85.00–113.50	$99.74	$979
855–1363	1080	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	47	58.00–90.00	$73.16	$790

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
1025	1025	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	1	68.00	$68.00	$697

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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.