Public Auction Yards Livestock Cattle Auction Market Report

Billings, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Wednesday, May 5, 2021

880 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 $152.16/cwt ≈ $971/hd at 638 lb · 27 head

heavy 6-weight M&L 1 heifers $138.34/cwt ≈ $925/hd at 669 lb · 23 head

light 7-weight M&L 1 steers $135.01/cwt ≈ $982/hd at 727 lb · 23 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	880	1,033	605
Feeder cattle	348	244	224
Slaughter cattle	389	498	197
Replacement cattle	143	291	184

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Feeder cattle were too lightly tested to develop an accurate market trend, however lower undertones were noticed on all offerings. Feeder cattle quality was mostly plain to average today. Demand was mostly light for light offerings. Corn and other feeds continue to trade higher. The May corn contract closed today at 754'2, while new crop December corn closed at 604'6. Feeder cattle contracts have fallen sharply since last week as corn and soybeans continue to push new contract highs. Buyers showed significantly lighter demand for feeder cattle this week as a result. Market activity this week was slow. Weigh up cows sold on mostly light to moderate demand for moderate offerings. Slaughter cows sold mostly 1.00 lower on breaking cows, and 3.00-5.00 lower on boning and lean cows. Heavy supplies are starting to be seen as drought conditions have ranchers marketing cows. Cow quality was mostly plain to average today with many thin and lower dressing cows in the offering. Feeding cows sold steady to 1.00 lower. Demand for feeding cows remains mostly moderate, with good demand seen at times for young age high quality cows. Weigh up conditions were mostly below average today as many full cows and bulls were on offer. Slaughter bulls sold steady to 2.00 lower. Young age cows suitable to feed or rebreed sold mostly 5.00 lower. Feeding demand for these offerings has diminished drastically as feed costs have risen.

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
543	543	3	165.00	$165.00	$896	—
563	563	6	160.00	$160.00	$901	—
624–646	638	27	150.00–156.00	$152.16	$971	—
686–690	687	6	139.00–147.00	$144.32	$991	—
717–732	727	23	134.50–136.00	$135.01	$982	—
822	822	5	120.50	$120.50	$991	—
918	918	5	114.00	$114.00	$1,047	-1.00

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
468	468	4	162.00	$162.00	$758	—
600	600	2	148.00	$148.00	$888	—
810	810	3	117.00	$117.00	$948	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
556–558	556	15	150.00–151.00	$150.87	$839	—
623–635	630	21	133.00–140.50	$139.45	$879	-4.55
652–674	669	23	134.00–139.50	$138.34	$925	—
703–740	725	5	125.00–129.00	$126.55	$917	—
810	810	2	109.00	$109.00	$883	—
811	811	7	111.00	$111.00	$900	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
427	427	3	135.00	$135.00	$576	—
486	486	6	142.00	$142.00	$690	—
558–583	579	12	130.00–142.00	$140.07	$811	—
621	621	4	130.00	$130.00	$807	-4.00

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
461–499	480	10	132.50–135.00	$133.80	$642	—
515	515	7	128.00	$128.00	$659	—
596	596	7	128.00	$128.00	$763	—
708	708	4	117.00	$117.00	$828	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
917	917	3	108.00	$108.00	$990	—
955	955	1	105.50	$105.50	$1,008	-2.83

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
70	70	2	225.00–275.00	$250.00	—

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1125	1125	1	93.00	$93.00	$1,046	-6.30

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Slaughter Cows

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
985–995	988	85-90%	4	52.50–56.00	$53.38	$527	—
1015–1280	1168	85-90%	46	47.00–57.50	$54.73	$639	-17.27
1115–1310	1182	85-90%	68	52.00–61.50	$55.34	$654	-5.88
1055–1395	1213	85-90%	32	57.00–64.50	$59.01	$716	-6.68
1065–1295	1234	85-90%	12	62.00–68.00	$65.69	$811	+5.04

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1390	1390	80-85%	2	63.00	$63.00	$876	-3.95
1343–1460	1404	80-85%	11	69.50–72.50	$71.33	$1,001	+8.73
1303–1615	1433	80-85%	33	64.00–68.50	$66.42	$952	-5.71
1325–1710	1455	80-85%	33	53.00–62.50	$57.94	$843	-15.48
1300–1665	1467	80-85%	20	57.00–63.00	$60.94	$894	-12.48

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1515–1745	1616	75-80%	10	66.50–69.50	$67.76	$1,095	-1.91
1550–1885	1685	75-80%	10	62.00–65.00	$63.29	$1,066	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1080–1375	1255	7	74.00–82.00	$77.08	$967	-11.38
1250–2000	1625	13	73.00–82.00	$77.34	$1,257	—
1465–2190	1812	14	83.00–91.00	$87.01	$1,577	-2.18
1860–2050	1978	3	95.00–96.00	$95.52	$1,889	—

YG2-3 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1540	1540	1	79.00	$79.00	$1,217	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
755–1293	987	(<2 yrs)	Open	82	80.00–104.00	$89.67	$885
850–1460	1127	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	32	63.00–85.50	$73.76	$831

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
885	885	(<2 yrs)	Open	1	86.00	$86.00	$761
1220	1220	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	1	62.00	$62.00	$756

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
1130–1321	1283	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	5	92.00–101.00	$93.59	$1,201

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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.