Public Auction Yards Livestock Cattle Auction Market Report

Billings, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Wednesday, March 6, 2024

1,827 head sold ·Official USDA report

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

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	1,827	323	733
Feeder cattle	25	35	220
Slaughter cattle	462	148	404
Replacement cattle	1,340	140	109

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week: Feeder cattle offerings were were too lightly tested today to develop any market trend. Todays sale featured mostly bred cows, bred heifers and weigh ups. Feeder offerings were very light this sale. Weigh up cows sold on mostly good to very good demand for moderate offerings. Cow quality was average to very attractive today. Packers showed very good demand for all cows on offer as they tried to purchase as much of the offering as possible. Slaughter cows sold mostly 3.00-6.00 higher on all classes in a narrow comparison. Feeding cows sold mostly 5.00-7.00 higher. Demand from private feeders was very good again this week as packers and feeding buyers were very aggressive especially over high quality, high yielding offerings. Weigh up conditions were mixed today. Most sets of pregnancy checked open cows which had been run through the chute offered buyers a weigh up in their favor. Slaughter bulls were too lightly tested to develop an accurate market trend, however steady undertones were noticed on a lower quality offering. Young age cows were too lightly tested last week to develop a full market trend, higher undertones were noticed. Demand from feeding and rebreed cow buyers continues to be good. A heavy offering of bred cows was seen for todays calving time classic sale. Demand for bred cows was very good. Quality today was mixed from plain to attractive. Demand for Aged, broken mouth cows was very good as ranchers continue to push this class higher. The price spread between broken mouth cows and young cows was very small, partly due to the fact salvage values for broken mouth cows have improved drastically. Packers gave $1750-$2,000 per head for some weigh cows for slaughter.

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Feeder Steers

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
385	385	2	370.00	$370.00	$1,424	—
985	985	4	208.00	$208.00	$2,049	—

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
735	735	2	237.00	$237.00	$1,742	—

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
780	780	1	239.00	$239.00	$1,864	—
1023	1023	2	208.00	$208.00	$2,128	+20.50

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1205	1205	1	155.00	$155.00	$1,868	—

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Slaughter Cows

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1216–1625	1330	80-85%	74	110.00–120.00	$116.37	$1,548	+11.37
1200–1545	1363	80-85%	28	119.00–124.50	$121.43	$1,655	+11.33
1335–1455	1384	80-85%	4	102.00–108.00	$105.70	$1,463	-4.40
1440	1440	80-85%	1	107.00	$107.00	$1,541	—
1355–1555	1450	80-85%	5	109.00–116.00	$113.31	$1,643	—
1290–1640	1471	80-85%	5	118.00–124.00	$120.27	$1,769	—

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1325–1705	1455	75-80%	30	119.00–126.00	$122.82	$1,787	—
1466–1660	1504	75-80%	56	122.25–124.50	$123.41	$1,856	+9.57
1423–1683	1579	75-80%	5	109.00–110.00	$109.64	$1,731	—
1608	1608	75-80%	2	119.00	$119.00	$1,914	—

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
875–975	936	85-90%	9	89.00–100.00	$92.38	$865	-3.62
950	950	85-90%	1	101.00	$101.00	$960	—
1010–1090	1050	85-90%	2	86.00–88.00	$87.04	$914	—
1030–1275	1158	85-90%	5	99.50–106.00	$103.35	$1,197	-10.04
1160–1225	1177	85-90%	6	118.50–121.00	$119.42	$1,406	+6.03
1015–1275	1179	85-90%	24	107.00–116.00	$111.61	$1,316	-1.78
1018–1515	1198	85-90%	26	92.00–105.50	$99.55	$1,193	—
1140–1300	1246	85-90%	8	107.00–114.00	$110.48	$1,377	—

N/N/A ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1568–1845	1640	65-75%	14	114.00–120.00	$117.50	$1,927	—

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1105	1105	1	96.00	$96.00	$1,061	—
1355–1705	1573	9	104.00–118.00	$113.23	$1,781	—
1715–2135	1792	9	120.00–131.00	$123.58	$2,215	-1.86
2033	2033	2	136.00	$136.00	$2,765	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
882 thin fleshed	882	(<2 yrs)	Open	10	189.00	$189.00	$1,667
804–1225	907	(<2 yrs)	Open	55	160.00–216.50	$196.14	$1,779
805–1295	1073	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	22	121.00–177.50	$145.56	$1,562

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
738–760	739	(<2 yrs)	Open	16	216.00–225.00	$216.58	$1,601
1098	1098	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	2	145.00	$145.00	$1,592

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
795 thin fleshed	795	(<2 yrs)	Open	2	155.00	$155.00	$1,232
840–1208	1037	(<2 yrs)	Open	4	130.00–182.50	$147.85	$1,533
950–1315	1254	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	12	117.50–120.00	$117.82	$1,477

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1140–1210	1187	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	3	2,400.00–2,500.00	$2,467.98
1024–1400	1216	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	89	2,500.00–2,800.00	$2,581.14
1265–1350 thin fleshed	1304	Aged (>8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	25	2,100.00	$2,100.00
1226–1429	1323	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	38	2,400.00–2,650.00	$2,556.94
1328–1458	1346	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	28	2,200.00–2,475.00	$2,437.80
1350	1350	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	1	2,450.00	$2,450.00
1371	1371	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	8	2,500.00	$2,500.00
1374	1374	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	7	2,500.00	$2,500.00
1285–1525	1388	Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	21	1,850.00–2,100.00	$2,032.62
1393	1393	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	2	2,450.00	$2,450.00
1244–1472	1435	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	32	2,550.00–2,625.00	$2,588.93
1361–1601	1463	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	118	2,225.00–2,550.00	$2,405.84
1423–1541	1467	Aged (>8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	104	2,200.00–2,300.00	$2,246.97
1520	1520	Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	1	1,900.00	$1,900.00

Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1094 thin fleshed	1094	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	11	2,350.00	$2,350.00
1203 thin fleshed	1203	Aged (>8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	5	1,850.00	$1,850.00
1236 thin fleshed	1236	Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	7	1,850.00	$1,850.00
1226–1378	1248	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	28	2,350.00–2,485.00	$2,463.70
1182–1463	1249	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	25	2,350.00–2,400.00	$2,376.39
1269–1359	1320	Aged (>8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	26	1,900.00–2,000.00	$1,947.50
1322	1322	Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	9	1,950.00	$1,950.00
1338–1422	1380	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	26	2,250.00–2,425.00	$2,334.84

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1145–1213	1189	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	26	2,225.00–2,425.00	$2,337.16
1245	1245	Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	3	1,800.00	$1,800.00
1290	1290	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	7	2,250.00	$2,250.00
1325	1325	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	2	2,100.00	$2,100.00
1254–1483	1335	Aged (>8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	25	1,900.00–2,100.00	$2,027.71
1350–1442	1396	Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	6	2,050.00–2,300.00	$2,179.12

Medium 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1020	1020	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	3	2,400.00	$2,400.00
1104	1104	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	6	2,300.00	$2,300.00

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Bred Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
990–1293	1113	(<2 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	305	2,675.00–2,985.00	$2,841.15
1132	1132	(<2 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	3	2,400.00	$2,400.00

Medium 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
837	837	(<2 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	10	1,750.00	$1,750.00
815–977	892	(<2 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	39	2,250.00–2,600.00	$2,394.49
955	955	(<2 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	7	2,125.00	$2,125.00

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
993 thin fleshed	993	(<2 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	2	2,000.00	$2,000.00
1002–1220	1068	(<2 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	5	2,300.00–2,600.00	$2,368.53

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Cow-Calf Pairs

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	Δ last sale
1510	1510	Aged (>8 yrs)	Open	1	2,750.00	$2,750.00	—

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Dairy Cows

N/N/A ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1324	1324	80-85%	4	100.00	$100.00	$1,324	—
1985	1985	75-80%	4	109.00	$109.00	$2,164	—

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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.