Public Auction Yards Livestock Cattle Auction Market Report

Billings, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Wednesday, November 8, 2023

2,671 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 2 heifers $182.50/cwt ≈ $1,347/hd at 738 lb · 19 head

heavy 9-weight M&L 1-2 heifers $192.00/cwt ≈ $1,855/hd at 966 lb · 16 head

heavy 8-weight M&L 1-2 heifers $198.91/cwt -9.09 vs last sale · ≈ $1,762/hd at 886 lb · 15 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	2,671	1,644	3,001
Feeder cattle	246	595	149
Slaughter cattle	1,659	787	962
Replacement cattle	766	262	1,890

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Yearling steers and heifers were too lightly tested to develop a full market trend, however lower undertones were noticed. Both steer and heifer calves were scarcely tested this week as todays sale featured bred heifers and cows as well as weigh ups. No trend is available. Yearling quality was mostly plain to average today. Market activity was mostly slow. Weigh up cows sold on mostly moderate demand for heavy offerings. Slaughter cows sold 3.00-6.00 lower on boning cows and lean cows. Breaking slaughter cows were too lightly tested to trend as most were purchased to feed this week, however lower undertones were noticed. Demand for feeding cows was mostly moderate to good. Buyer participation was good again this week, however not as many buyers were seen this week as last. Thin cows purchased to feed or turn out on corn stalks this winter sold 2.00-4.00 lower which would be near steady with prices two weeks ago. High quality feeding cows suitable to feed to premium white sold 1.00-4.00 lower. Weigh up conditions were mostly below average to start the sale but improved as the sale progressed, especially on cattle that had been preg. checked and run through the chute. Slaughter bulls sold mostly steady, on a lower quality offering. Cow quality today was mixed from plain to attractive. Young age cows sold mostly 5.00-10.00 higher on a much higher quality offering. Demand for these offerings was stronger this week as quality allowed for more rebreed buyers to participate. Demand from feeding buyers remains light to moderate. Most of these offerings are in the report as slaughter cows returning to feed especially offerings over 3 years old. A good selection of bred cows and heifers sold today and demand for these offerings was mostly moderate to good. Quality was average to very attractive. A large crowd was on hand for todays bred cow sale with both ranchers and order buyers as active participants. 3rd trimester calve from now until Feb 9th, 2nd Trimester calve from Feb 9th till May 12th, 1st trimester calve after May 12th.

New to these tables? Plain-English explainers ↓

Feeder Steers

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
449 unweaned	449	4	302.50	$302.50	$1,358	—
919	919	4	199.00	$199.00	$1,829	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
935	935	3	214.00	$214.00	$2,001	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
433 unweaned	433	3	255.00	$255.00	$1,104	+2.50
857–899	886	15	198.00–202.00	$198.91	$1,762	-9.09
916	916	9	194.00	$194.00	$1,777	-9.00
966	966	16	192.00	$192.00	$1,855	—

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
738	738	19	182.50	$182.50	$1,347	—

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
746	746	12	213.00	$213.00	$1,589	—

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Slaughter Cows

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
820–945	895	85-90%	3	64.00–74.00	$68.66	$615	—
875–985	948	85-90%	3	51.00–55.00	$52.23	$495	—
1018	1018	85-90%	2	62.00	$62.00	$631	—
1013–1440	1160	85-90%	19	56.00–67.00	$64.22	$745	-7.60
1030–1280	1170	85-90%	124	65.00–83.00	$77.67	$909	-6.75
1173–1205	1184	85-90%	6	96.50–100.00	$98.81	$1,170	+14.39
1000–1350	1195	85-90%	102	68.00–82.00	$78.27	$935	-6.15
1045–1320	1250	85-90%	174	83.00–94.00	$85.18	$1,065	-17.82
1180–1323	1250	85-90%	75	82.00–86.00	$83.64	$1,046	-19.36

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1260–1545	1378	80-85%	91	74.00–84.50	$82.00	$1,130	-7.63
1300–1558	1380	80-85%	63	78.00–87.50	$84.69	$1,169	-4.94
1300–1610	1414	80-85%	73	88.50–100.00	$94.41	$1,335	-12.91
1310–1638	1446	80-85%	27	85.00–93.00	$86.64	$1,253	+0.77
1370–1645	1453	80-85%	52	101.00–109.50	$104.19	$1,514	+28.51
1480–1730	1647	80-85%	3	95.00–97.00	$95.60	$1,575	—

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1520–1553	1538	75-80%	8	97.00–101.50	$99.36	$1,528	—
1578–1605	1590	75-80%	7	97.00–99.50	$98.08	$1,559	-1.18
1608–1710	1644	75-80%	8	94.00–97.00	$96.01	$1,578	—
1620–1875	1733	75-80%	4	91.00–94.00	$93.02	$1,612	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1130–1295	1241	4	110.00–115.00	$113.34	$1,407	—
1210–1350	1295	5	86.00–95.00	$89.37	$1,157	—
1570–1925	1717	25	90.00–106.00	$99.50	$1,708	—
1848–1948	1881	9	105.00–109.00	$107.62	$2,024	—
1683–2355	1936	16	109.50–116.00	$111.87	$2,166	+2.50
1955–2120	2038	2	117.50–118.00	$117.74	$2,400	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
828–1310	936	(<2 yrs)	Open	168	117.00–189.50	$164.88	$1,543
903–1315	1083	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	66	90.00–142.50	$113.78	$1,232

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
700 thin fleshed	700	(<2 yrs)	Open	2	145.00	$145.00	$1,015
778–995	856	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	8	92.00–115.00	$105.14	$900
740–1105	939	(<2 yrs)	Open	9	102.50–140.00	$124.89	$1,173

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1058	1058	Aged (>8 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	2	1,600.00	$1,600.00
1020–1264	1093	Young (2-4 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	54	1,585.00–2,000.00	$1,896.23
1008–1318 thin fleshed	1133	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	23	1,800.00–1,985.00	$1,921.02
1176 thin fleshed	1176	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	4	1,300.00	$1,300.00
1168–1272 thin fleshed	1216	Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	11	1,275.00–1,300.00	$1,281.55
1207–1425	1262	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	4	1,200.00–1,500.00	$1,284.72
1100–1337	1268	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	79	2,250.00–2,650.00	$2,427.37
1289–1301	1294	Aged (>8 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	12	1,300.00–1,335.00	$1,314.66
1195–1415	1296	Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	67	1,300.00–1,525.00	$1,442.76
1185–1563	1318	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	10	1,500.00–1,600.00	$1,559.63
1220–1546	1326	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	25	2,100.00–2,300.00	$2,226.24
1260–1535	1355	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	34	1,375.00–1,775.00	$1,602.89

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
1189–1204	1197	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	1st Stage (1-3 mo)	9	83.00–88.00	$85.79	$1,027
1208–1355	1297	Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	23	85.00–96.50	$94.47	$1,225

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1118	1118	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	2	1,600.00	$1,600.00
1297	1297	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	4	1,350.00	$1,350.00
1457	1457	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	3	1,550.00	$1,550.00

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Bred Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
932–946	936	(<2 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	70	2,125.00–2,300.00	$2,251.98
961	961	(<2 yrs)	1st/2nd Stage (1-6 mo)	5	1,850.00	$1,850.00

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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.