Public Auction Yards Livestock Cattle Auction Market Report

Billings, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Wednesday, May 26, 2021

1,291 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 $133.06/cwt ≈ $943/hd at 709 lb · 24 head

light 4-weight M&L 1 steers $156.54/cwt ≈ $698/hd at 446 lb · 23 head

heavy 5-weight M&L 1 steers $180.26/cwt +1.26 vs last sale · ≈ $1,021/hd at 566 lb · 19 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale
Total receipts	1,291	903
Feeder cattle	190	171
Slaughter cattle	702	568
Replacement cattle	399	164

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Feeder cattle were too lightly tested to develop an accurate market trend, however higher undertones were noticed on steers and heifers. Feeder cattle quality was mostly average today. A few fall calves were offered today and these offerings sold with little to no discount to long weaned yearlings. These offerings were average to attractive. CME positions were lower today but remain higher than last week giving some support to the market. Corn prices were sharply lower yesterday but traded 0.04'4 to 0.06 higher today on July-Dec contracts. The near-by July contract is down 0.3375 since last Wednesday. Market activity was mostly moderate today with more participants bidding on offerings. Weigh up cows comprised the majority of the the sale this week. Packers opted to send the majority of the offering to feed this week. Cow quality was average to attractive and significantly higher than last week. Despite heavy cow supplies packers continue to fight over market share and pushed cows higher today. Slaughter cows sold steady to 1.00 higher on boning and lean cows, breaking cows sold mostly 2.00-3.00 higher. Feeding cows sold mostly 1.00-2.00 higher. Packers opted to send a portion of the cows they would normally send to slaughter to short term feed. Demand for ground beef continues to be very good and the cutter cow cutout continues to inch higher. The cutter cow cutout as of todays close was 210.51, 0.85 higher than yesterdays value. Slaughter volumes remain elevated as packers are slaughtering large volumes of cows and bulls due to high cull volumes in the Northern Plains. Weigh up conditions were mostly average this week, however weigh conditions were significantly higher than last week. Young age cows sold mostly steady to 5.00 higher this week pushed mostly by rebreed buyers searching for high quality offerings. Feeding quality offerings sold mostly steady.

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
445–447 unweaned	446	23	150.00–162.50	$156.54	$698	—
566 unweaned	566	16	180.00	$180.00	$1,019	—
565–570	567	3	179.00–183.00	$181.66	$1,030	+2.66
613	613	6	178.00	$178.00	$1,091	+12.98
753	753	4	148.00	$148.00	$1,114	+10.00

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
743	743	3	137.00	$137.00	$1,018	—
813–830	819	3	116.00–118.00	$116.68	$956	—

↑ Back to top

Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
416 unweaned	416	4	157.50	$157.50	$655	—
503 unweaned	503	9	146.00	$146.00	$734	—
518–549	539	6	150.00–156.00	$154.08	$830	+2.76
558–580	564	8	151.00–160.00	$157.68	$889	+5.81
600	600	2	147.00	$147.00	$882	+2.39
663	663	6	141.00	$141.00	$935	—
704–714	709	24	129.00–138.00	$133.06	$943	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
450	450	3	145.00	$145.00	$652	-2.00
500	500	6	145.00	$145.00	$725	—

Medium 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
428	428	6	140.00	$140.00	$599	+5.00

↑ Back to top

Feeder Bulls

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1015	1015	2	105.00	$105.00	$1,066	—
1095	1095	2	99.00	$99.00	$1,084	+1.00
1135	1135	17	95.00	$95.00	$1,078	-1.00
1166–1170	1167	6	99.00–101.00	$99.33	$1,159	—
1210	1210	2	94.00	$94.00	$1,137	±0.00
1295	1295	4	93.00	$93.00	$1,204	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
975–988	986	7	102.00–103.00	$102.86	$1,014	-2.14

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
837	837	3	100.00	$100.00	$837	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
80	80	2	250.00	$250.00	—

↑ Back to top

Slaughter Cows

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
870	870	85-90%	1	60.00	$60.00	$522	—
915–990	943	85-90%	6	52.00–54.00	$52.67	$497	—
1080–1153	1135	85-90%	4	42.00–50.50	$48.48	$550	—
1135–1143	1140	85-90%	3	66.00–72.00	$70.01	$798	—
989–1320	1180	85-90%	58	54.00–62.00	$57.97	$684	+2.16
1015–1375	1200	85-90%	82	52.00–62.00	$57.11	$685	-3.84
1025–1285	1224	85-90%	12	60.50–66.00	$62.80	$769	+2.06
1020–1371	1257	85-90%	128	60.00–66.50	$62.47	$785	-5.53
1263–1285	1270	85-90%	3	67.00–68.00	$67.66	$859	-0.34

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1301–1388	1341	80-85%	18	57.00–62.00	$59.37	$796	-11.40
1315–1480	1375	80-85%	5	53.00–62.50	$56.46	$776	-1.75
1271–1628	1411	80-85%	105	62.00–67.50	$65.02	$917	+1.76
1323–1540	1422	80-85%	25	69.00–73.50	$70.59	$1,004	+7.33
1338–1570	1424	80-85%	29	62.00–66.00	$63.53	$905	+0.27
1430–1588	1535	80-85%	3	69.00–71.00	$70.38	$1,080	-2.30

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1454–1546	1512	75-80%	11	68.50–71.00	$69.15	$1,046	+10.65
1510–1640	1575	75-80%	4	63.50–65.00	$64.28	$1,012	-5.72
1540–1674	1620	75-80%	9	65.00–65.50	$65.05	$1,054	+2.06
1525–1903	1633	75-80%	15	68.00–72.00	$70.23	$1,147	+7.24
1585–1815	1714	75-80%	4	74.00–75.50	$74.61	$1,279	—

↑ Back to top

Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1275–1550	1454	7	74.50–82.00	$77.19	$1,122	—
1320–2045	1488	5	84.00–89.50	$87.97	$1,309	—
1400–1840	1651	23	74.25–83.50	$77.32	$1,277	—
1580–1888	1762	15	88.00–95.00	$92.90	$1,637	+18.67
1540–2295	1790	15	81.00–90.50	$87.08	$1,559	—
1680–2057	1849	40	97.50–99.00	$98.05	$1,813	—
1758–2227	2021	12	93.50–98.00	$94.98	$1,920	—

↑ Back to top

Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
760 thin fleshed	760	(<2 yrs)	Open	3	80.00	$80.00	$608
800–1290	971	(<2 yrs)	Open	178	70.00–110.00	$91.35	$887
842–1475	1146	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	90	58.00–86.00	$72.40	$830
1148 thin fleshed	1148	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	2	59.00	$59.00	$677

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
735–938	801	(<2 yrs)	Open	48	60.00–84.00	$75.63	$606
785–930	858	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	2	57.50–73.00	$64.59	$554

↑ Back to top

Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
1445–1503	1482	Aged (>8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	10	58.00–64.00	$62.24	$922
1520	1520	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	1	69.00	$69.00	$1,049

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1065–1225	1118	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	3	1,075.00–1,100.00	$1,090.87

↑ Back to top

Dairy Steers

Large 3 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1050	1050	2	60.00	$60.00	$630	—

↑ Back to top

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.