Public Auction Yards Livestock Cattle Auction Market Report

Billings, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Wednesday, March 9, 2022

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Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	312	2,731	624
Feeder cattle	51	115	299
Slaughter cattle	169	796	224
Replacement cattle	92	1,820	101

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Feeder calves were scarcely tested this week thus no trend on feed cattle is available. Demand for limited offerings was good. Quality was mostly average to attractive today. Market activity was mostly moderate. Weigh up cows sold on good to very good demand. Packers showed good demand for cows for immediate harvest. Packer buyers competed with feeding cow buyers over offerings today which helped push cow prices slightly higher in places. Too few boning and breaking cows were seen to develop an accurate market trend, however steady to higher undertones were noticed. Lean cows sold 2.00-3.00 higher in a narrow comparison. Feeding cows sold on mostly good to very good demand today. Feeding cows sold with steady to higher undertones. Slaughter bulls sold 2.00-4.00 higher in a narrow comparison. Young age cows suitable to feed or rebreed sold on good demand today. Several sets of open cows were seen and these were purchased to rebreed. Young age cows sold with higher undertones in a narrow comparison.

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Feeder Steers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
449	449	4	212.50	$212.50	$954	—
503	503	2	210.00	$210.00	$1,056	+6.00
575	575	3	194.00	$194.00	$1,116	-11.00

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
725	725	2	120.00	$120.00	$870	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
460–470	468	6	188.00	$188.00	$880	—
563	563	6	182.00	$182.00	$1,025	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
437	437	3	177.00	$177.00	$773	—
797	797	3	141.00	$141.00	$1,124	—

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Feeder Bulls

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1002–1040	1007	7	104.00–126.00	$122.76	$1,236	—
1120	1120	2	104.00	$104.00	$1,165	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
936	936	7	132.00	$132.00	$1,236	—

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Slaughter Cows

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1015–1145	1080	85-90%	2	60.00–60.50	$60.27	$651	—
991–1175	1145	85-90%	13	62.50–72.00	$69.62	$797	+9.62
1065–1274	1193	85-90%	39	64.50–73.50	$71.42	$852	+3.17
1235	1235	85-90%	1	81.00	$81.00	$1,000	+6.55
1175–1328	1252	85-90%	29	74.00–79.00	$76.53	$958	—

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1360	1360	80-85%	1	83.00	$83.00	$1,129	+1.56
1340–1437	1424	80-85%	13	79.00–83.00	$79.74	$1,135	-0.54
1422–1555	1455	80-85%	4	75.00–82.00	$80.13	$1,166	—
1480–1560	1520	80-85%	2	83.00–84.00	$83.49	$1,269	—

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1453–1905	1623	75-80%	6	80.00–83.00	$81.37	$1,321	—
1545–1783	1738	75-80%	8	80.00–85.00	$81.15	$1,410	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1205	1205	1	80.00	$80.00	$964	—
1395–1643	1546	9	80.00–94.00	$89.00	$1,376	—
1435–1733	1604	6	94.50–102.00	$96.93	$1,555	+12.23
1734–1740	1735	9	90.00–91.50	$90.17	$1,564	—
2015	2015	1	100.00	$100.00	$2,015	—
2005–2265	2178	3	109.50–112.50	$111.58	$2,430	—

YG2-3 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
2065	2065	2	115.00	$115.00	$2,375	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
760 thin fleshed	760	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	1	71.00	$71.00	$540
620–1197	816	(<2 yrs)	Open	38	122.50–137.50	$131.56	$1,074
680–1560	988	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	45	78.00–111.00	$97.10	$959

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
795 thin fleshed	795	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	1	61.00	$61.00	$485

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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.