Public Auction Yards Livestock Cattle Auction Market Report

Billings, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Wednesday, November 2, 2022

2,517 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 heifers $158.93/cwt -14.74 vs last sale · ≈ $917/hd at 577 lb · 49 head

light 5-weight M&L 1 steers $197.03/cwt +3.21 vs last sale · ≈ $1,044/hd at 530 lb · 42 head

heavy 6-weight M&L 1 steers $172.74/cwt +4.24 vs last sale · ≈ $1,178/hd at 682 lb · 33 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	2,517	1,786	3,302
Feeder cattle	831	405	458
Slaughter cattle	1,198	986	1,906
Replacement cattle	488	395	938

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Steer and heifer calves were both too lightly tested last sale to develop an accurate market trend, however higher undertones were noticed on steer calves under 550 lbs and steady to higher undertones were noticed on steers over 550 lbs; Heifer calves under 550 lbs sold with higher undertones and heifers over 550 lbs sold with steady to lower undertones. Quality today was mostly plain to average and better than last week. Demand was mostly moderate for light offerings. Most feeders were offered in small package or as singles. Market activity was mostly slow to moderate today. Weigh up cows sold on mostly light to moderate demand and heavy offerings. The majority of the cow offering was purchased to feed this week, either to feed and hold for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday or to feed to premium white. Short term feeding cows sold slightly higher with most sales steady to 3.00 higher. Most of these cows are located in the report as low dressing lean or boning cows returning to feed. High quality cows suitable to feed to premium white sold mostly steady to 2.00 higher. Slaughter cows sold steady to 2.00 higher on boning and lean cows. The only decline in slaughter cows was for very low dressing cows as packers showed light demand for very thin and severely crippled cows, which sold mostly 3.00-4.00 lower. Breaking cows sold steady to firm. Slaughter bulls sold mostly 1.00-2.00 higher. Cow quality was average to attractive today, and slightly higher than last week. Weigh up conditions were mostly average to below average this sale. Young age cows suitable to feed or rebreed sold on mostly moderate to good demand. These offerings sold steady to firm. Good demand continues to be seen for high quality rebreed type offerings.

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
340 unweaned	340	3	265.00	$265.00	$901	—
367 unweaned	367	3	247.50	$247.50	$908	+7.50
400–438 unweaned	414	8	230.00–237.50	$233.88	$968	+16.44
455–496 unweaned	482	17	211.00–220.00	$214.39	$1,033	+6.61
518–535 unweaned	530	42	190.50–207.00	$197.03	$1,044	+3.21
550–580 unweaned	570	6	185.00–194.00	$188.11	$1,072	-0.34
603–636 unweaned	622	32	176.50–189.50	$184.14	$1,145	-3.36
679	679	15	172.00	$172.00	$1,168	—
655–695 unweaned	684	18	172.50–175.50	$173.36	$1,186	+4.86
705–721 unweaned	718	19	169.50–171.00	$169.79	$1,219	—
750 unweaned	750	7	168.00	$168.00	$1,260	—
792	792	6	166.00	$166.00	$1,315	—
834–845	839	7	185.50–186.50	$186.07	$1,561	+6.07

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
301 unweaned	301	4	256.00	$256.00	$771	—
355 unweaned	355	3	217.50	$217.50	$772	—
414 unweaned	414	4	215.00	$215.00	$890	-1.00
493 unweaned	493	5	185.00	$185.00	$912	-21.00
528 unweaned	528	14	189.50	$189.50	$1,001	+15.50
569 unweaned	569	4	181.00	$181.00	$1,030	—
616 unweaned	616	4	178.00	$178.00	$1,096	—
818	818	2	161.00	$161.00	$1,317	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
265 unweaned	265	2	232.50	$232.50	$616	—
300 unweaned	300	3	247.00	$247.00	$741	+34.00
386–388 unweaned	387	9	214.00–222.00	$217.57	$842	+13.57
425–440 unweaned	428	9	195.00–197.00	$195.46	$837	+2.53
523–535 unweaned	531	31	173.00–180.00	$174.59	$927	+0.99
556–599 unweaned	576	45	157.00–160.00	$158.84	$915	-14.83
591	591	4	160.00	$160.00	$946	—
629 unweaned	629	6	155.00	$155.00	$975	—
650–685 unweaned	670	11	151.00–160.00	$155.20	$1,040	—
706–718	712	18	158.50–166.00	$162.22	$1,155	—
862	862	23	166.00	$166.00	$1,431	—
955–962	961	14	154.00–160.50	$159.58	$1,534	—
993	993	8	147.00	$147.00	$1,460	-4.00

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1018–1023	1021	10	150.50–152.00	$151.40	$1,546	-1.04
1073	1073	19	149.25	$149.25	$1,601	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
430 unweaned	430	4	192.50	$192.50	$828	—
456–495 unweaned	470	11	178.00–181.00	$179.95	$846	-5.05
745	745	3	161.00	$161.00	$1,199	—
863	863	3	154.00	$154.00	$1,329	-2.00

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
681	681	4	156.00	$156.00	$1,062	—

Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1077	1077	3	144.50	$144.50	$1,556	—

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
365 unweaned	365	1	245.00	$245.00	$894	—
417 unweaned	417	3	215.00	$215.00	$897	—
511 unweaned	511	5	180.00	$180.00	$920	-15.00
605–640 unweaned	620	5	161.00–165.00	$163.35	$1,013	+1.35

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1175	1175	1	110.00	$110.00	$1,292	—
1224	1224	4	101.00	$101.00	$1,236	—

Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1050	1050	1	107.00	$107.00	$1,124	—
1180	1180	1	102.00	$102.00	$1,204	—

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Slaughter Cows

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
825–970	898	85-90%	2	54.00–57.00	$55.62	$499	—
900	900	85-90%	1	42.00	$42.00	$378	-5.94
1055–1350	1182	85-90%	79	48.00–61.00	$54.38	$643	+9.15
1032–1299	1187	85-90%	96	52.00–63.00	$59.19	$703	+4.57
1000–1300	1199	85-90%	30	32.00–47.00	$42.11	$505	-12.51
1000–1300	1219	85-90%	156	63.00–70.00	$65.86	$803	+7.00
1226–1276	1247	85-90%	14	72.50–73.50	$72.94	$910	+5.34
1070–1380	1286	85-90%	15	62.50–66.00	$63.94	$822	+2.06

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1285–1505	1375	80-85%	36	57.00–67.00	$65.33	$898	-16.40
1135–1614	1421	80-85%	153	68.00–80.00	$75.16	$1,068	-5.51
1295–1574	1437	80-85%	59	80.50–85.00	$83.58	$1,201	+25.01
1362–1505	1439	80-85%	14	66.50–75.00	$69.90	$1,006	+11.33
1340–1700	1444	80-85%	56	55.00–66.75	$61.18	$883	+2.61
1595–1680	1638	80-85%	2	77.00–82.00	$79.56	$1,303	—

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1551	1551	75-80%	4	83.75	$83.75	$1,299	—
1550–1580	1565	75-80%	2	70.00–76.00	$72.97	$1,142	—
1560–1600	1582	75-80%	14	79.00–82.00	$80.15	$1,268	—
1360–1840	1588	75-80%	17	80.50–82.50	$81.16	$1,289	—
1485–1722	1626	75-80%	11	66.00–76.00	$72.09	$1,172	-4.03

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1121–1885	1431	9	89.00–94.00	$90.99	$1,302	—
1310–1828	1609	11	72.00–86.50	$79.79	$1,284	—
1413–2370	1719	28	66.00–86.00	$81.23	$1,396	—
1630–2245	1880	21	88.00–98.00	$92.91	$1,747	—
1895–2145	2011	6	101.00–103.00	$101.35	$2,038	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
720–1348	951	(<2 yrs)	Open	169	86.00–129.00	$114.79	$1,092
915–1300	1107	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	120	70.00–105.00	$87.26	$966

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
840–985 thin fleshed	913	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	2	52.00–53.00	$52.54	$480
760–1066	916	(<2 yrs)	Open	12	80.00–111.00	$92.11	$844
1060–1288	1221	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	7	63.00–77.00	$72.40	$884

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1050–1133	1120	Young (2-4 yrs)	1st/2nd Stage (1-6 mo)	13	1,275.00–1,300.00	$1,281.41
1100–1243	1146	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	10	1,300.00	$1,300.00
1247 thin fleshed	1247	Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	16	775.00	$775.00
1234–1285	1272	Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	21	835.00–960.00	$935.48
1184–1383	1311	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	11	1,275.00–1,335.00	$1,315.29
1385	1385	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	6	1,000.00	$1,000.00

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1030	1030	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	2	1,100.00	$1,100.00
1218	1218	Young (2-4 yrs)	1st/2nd Stage (1-6 mo)	2	1,075.00	$1,075.00

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Bred Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1030	1030	(<2 yrs)	1st/2nd Stage (1-6 mo)	3	1,400.00	$1,400.00

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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.