Public Auction Yards Livestock Cattle Auction Market Report

Billings, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Wednesday, February 9, 2022

748 head sold ·Official USDA report

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

light 5-weight M&L 1 heifers $175.48/cwt ≈ $932/hd at 531 lb · 27 head

light 8-weight M&L 1 steers $155.00/cwt ≈ $1,307/hd at 843 lb · 20 head

light 7-weight M&L 1 heifers $148.00/cwt ≈ $1,100/hd at 743 lb · 15 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale
Total receipts	748	842
Feeder cattle	236	—
Slaughter cattle	424	356
Replacement cattle	88	486

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Feeder calves were not tested last week, thus no trend is available. Demand for feeder calves was mostly moderate to good despite light offerings. Many buyers started loads as tomorrows sale will have enough cattle to finish filling out loads. Quality today was plain to average. Many sets of cutback cattle off video sales were seen today. Market activity was mostly moderate today. Weigh up cows comprised most of the sale today. Demand for slaughter cows remains good to very good. A heavy portion of todays offering was comprised of cows that have been on feed. Packers opted to return most of these offerings to feed as most sets only needed 30 days of so of grain to advance to premium white. Both slaughter and feeding cows sold fully steady with last week. Weigh up conditions this week were mostly average to below average and lower than last week. Slaughter bulls were too lightly tested last week to develop an accurate market trend, higher undertones were noticed. Quality today was mostly average to attractive for weigh up cows and bulls. Young age cows suitable to feed or rebreed were too lightly tested to develop any market trend. Packer buyers dipped well into the young cows as they purchased cows to both slaughter and feed. A few heifers that lost calves are starting to sell and these offerings are met with good demand.

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
415	415	1	220.00	$220.00	$913	—
503–520	509	6	199.00–205.00	$201.98	$1,028	—
699	699	5	171.00	$171.00	$1,195	—
791	791	4	155.50	$155.50	$1,230	—
843	843	20	155.00	$155.00	$1,307	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
577	577	3	187.00	$187.00	$1,079	—
630	630	4	170.00	$170.00	$1,071	—
673	673	2	156.00	$156.00	$1,050	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
355	355	3	191.00	$191.00	$678	—
433	433	2	181.00	$181.00	$784	—
530–535	531	27	174.00–176.00	$175.48	$932	—
629	629	4	156.00	$156.00	$981	—
743	743	15	148.00	$148.00	$1,100	—

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1113	1113	14	127.00	$127.00	$1,414	—

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
565	565	3	177.00	$177.00	$1,000	—
700	700	1	151.00	$151.00	$1,057	—

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Slaughter Cows

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1297–1615	1405	80-85%	43	67.50–73.00	$70.15	$986	+0.02
1325–1610	1414	80-85%	29	57.00–66.50	$63.62	$900	-6.51
1340–1505	1438	80-85%	5	76.00–77.00	$76.37	$1,098	+4.03
1313–1590	1450	80-85%	76	68.00–76.00	$72.04	$1,045	-3.66
1510	1510	80-85%	1	77.50	$77.50	$1,170	+1.00
1535	1535	80-85%	1	64.00	$64.00	$982	-12.50

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
948	948	85-90%	2	40.00	$40.00	$379	—
1040–1158	1124	85-90%	21	53.00–55.50	$55.03	$619	+4.00
1013–1340	1201	85-90%	57	59.00–66.00	$62.79	$754	-7.21
1175–1259	1217	85-90%	2	74.50–75.00	$74.74	$910	+4.74
1150–1350	1226	85-90%	5	69.00–72.50	$71.17	$873	+1.17
1025–1368	1258	85-90%	61	66.00–73.00	$67.63	$851	+3.63
1340	1340	85-90%	1	76.00	$76.00	$1,018	—

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1565	1565	75-80%	2	72.50	$72.50	$1,135	—
1532–1890	1677	75-80%	11	71.00–73.00	$71.93	$1,206	-2.83
1620–1785	1703	75-80%	2	74.50–75.00	$74.74	$1,273	—
1557–1896	1721	75-80%	19	75.50–77.75	$76.49	$1,316	—
1863	1863	75-80%	2	77.50	$77.50	$1,444	—

N/N/A ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1585	1585	65-75%	1	87.00	$87.00	$1,379	—
1780–1960	1808	65-75%	13	75.00–78.00	$77.50	$1,401	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1525–1920	1695	6	82.00–87.50	$85.51	$1,449	—
1714–2190	1861	20	92.00–100.00	$95.32	$1,774	—
1960–2375	2229	5	100.50–108.00	$104.29	$2,325	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
950–1105	1053	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	6	72.00–83.00	$74.84	$788
820–1340	1070	(<2 yrs)	Open	57	80.00–109.00	$88.94	$952

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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.