Public Auction Yards Livestock Cattle Auction Market Report

Billings, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Wednesday, March 2, 2022

2,731 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 steers $205.00/cwt ≈ $1,132/hd at 552 lb · 25 head

light 6-weight M&L 1 steers $191.00/cwt ≈ $1,180/hd at 618 lb · 13 head

heavy 4-weight M&L 1 steers $212.50/cwt ≈ $1,020/hd at 480 lb · 11 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	2,731	203	2,377
Feeder cattle	115	25	85
Slaughter cattle	796	138	547
Replacement cattle	1,820	40	1,745

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Feeder calves were scarcely tested this week as todays sale featured bred cows. No trend on feed cattle is available. Demand for limited offerings was good. Todays Public Auction Yards hosted their annual calving time classic. Many sets of bred cows were on offer and with a heavy offering of older cows seen. A couple of dispersions of cows were seen as well and these offerings were met with very good demand. Several sets of cows had been on feed and packer buyers were competitive with bred cow buyers over these offerings. Packers purchased some of these offerings away from bred cow buyers especially slightly blemished or heavy weight offerings which were weighted. Quality for bred cows was mixed from plain to attractive. Weigh up cows sold on mostly moderate to good demand, however demand for weigh ups was uneven at times. Slaughter cows sold steady to 3.00 lower on lean cows, boning and breaking cows were too lightly tested to last week to develop an accurate market trend, however steady to lower undertones were noticed. Slaughter bulls were too lightly tested last sale to develop any market trend. Demand for slaughter bulls was mostly good. Young age cows suitable to feed or rebreed sold on mostly good demand. Too few offerings were seen last week to develop any market trend. Quality was average to attractive with many coming 2 year old heifers and heifers that lost calves in the offering.

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
480	480	11	212.50	$212.50	$1,020	—
528	528	3	204.00	$204.00	$1,077	—
552	552	25	205.00	$205.00	$1,132	—
618	618	13	191.00	$191.00	$1,180	—

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Slaughter Cows

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1316–1488	1331	80-85%	23	81.50–84.50	$81.79	$1,089	+7.79
1338–1425	1368	80-85%	7	81.00–82.00	$81.44	$1,114	—
1310–1465	1370	80-85%	24	64.00–74.00	$71.66	$982	—
1318–1635	1427	80-85%	136	74.00–83.00	$80.28	$1,146	—
1326–1630	1438	80-85%	94	73.00–79.50	$77.27	$1,111	—
1445	1445	80-85%	1	70.00	$70.00	$1,012	—

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
945	945	85-90%	1	71.00	$71.00	$671	+8.84
940–973	965	85-90%	4	47.00–52.00	$48.22	$465	-29.78
915–980	967	85-90%	5	61.00–64.00	$61.57	$595	-16.43
1080–1170	1126	85-90%	14	57.00–61.00	$60.00	$676	—
1025–1310	1160	85-90%	100	62.00–71.00	$68.25	$792	-9.74
1200–1215	1208	85-90%	4	79.00–83.00	$81.01	$979	—
1215	1215	85-90%	1	79.00	$79.00	$960	—
1015–1310	1235	85-90%	91	72.00–78.00	$74.45	$919	—
1246	1246	85-90%	6	78.50	$78.50	$978	—

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1435–1668	1535	75-80%	28	71.00–78.00	$73.99	$1,136	—
1550	1550	75-80%	1	80.00	$80.00	$1,240	-1.16
1504–1705	1578	75-80%	24	79.00–84.00	$82.65	$1,304	+1.49
1573–1760	1667	75-80%	24	74.25–77.00	$75.55	$1,259	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1290–1530	1410	2	93.00–95.00	$93.91	$1,324	—
1357–1987	1629	12	71.00–91.00	$84.70	$1,380	-8.88
1540–2203	1803	12	91.00–98.50	$94.91	$1,711	—
2005–2220	2138	6	101.00–104.00	$102.35	$2,188	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
902–1238	1058	(<2 yrs)	Open	37	122.00–133.50	$129.73	$1,373
925–1408	1159	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	61	78.00–98.50	$82.88	$961

Medium 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
828	828	(<2 yrs)	Open	11	100.00	$100.00

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
1010–1280	1190	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	3	65.00–66.00	$65.72	$782

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1058 thin fleshed	1058	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	13	1,425.00	$1,425.00
1169	1169	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	18	1,400.00	$1,400.00
1206	1206	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	4	1,400.00	$1,400.00
1023–1472	1219	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	171	1,475.00–1,710.00	$1,635.22
1049–1412	1221	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	9	1,375.00	$1,375.00
1150–1321 thin fleshed	1255	Aged (>8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	85	850.00–1,060.00	$1,005.55
1322–1326	1323	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	24	1,335.00–1,375.00	$1,361.64
1135–1545	1340	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	171	1,375.00–1,675.00	$1,569.65
1346	1346	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	4	1,325.00	$1,325.00
1294–1500	1349	Aged (>8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	295	1,050.00–1,250.00	$1,125.25
1283–1510	1370	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	61	1,060.00–1,275.00	$1,194.42
1328–1445 fancy	1375	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	30	1,700.00–1,750.00	$1,721.02
1353–1470	1402	Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	135	1,075.00–1,200.00	$1,147.11
1242–1649	1406	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	217	1,150.00–1,450.00	$1,358.25

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1276	1276	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	11	1,375.00	$1,375.00
1304–1333	1310	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	9	1,250.00–1,300.00	$1,261.30
1322	1322	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	3	1,350.00	$1,350.00

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
1409	1409	Aged (>8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	16	78.00	$78.00	$1,099

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Bred Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
976 thin fleshed	976	(<2 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	9	1,300.00	$1,300.00
995–1193	1037	(<2 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	222	1,460.00–1,700.00	$1,533.56

Medium 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
890 thin fleshed	890	(<2 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	13	1,000.00	$1,000.00

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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.