Public Auction Yards Livestock Cattle Auction Market Report

Billings, Montana · USDA-reported Auction Livestock

Sale of Wednesday, February 25, 2026

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

heavy 5-weight M 1 steers $442.50/cwt ≈ $2,646/hd at 598 lb · 11 head

Receipts

Head	This sale	Last sale	Last year
Total receipts	610	1,136	1,034
Feeder cattle	160	809	251
Slaughter cattle	298	182	552
Replacement cattle	152	145	231

Market comments — USDA reporter

Compared to last week (2-18-26): Feeder cattle were too lightly tested to develop any market trend. Demand for light offerings was good to very good. Cattle were mostly offered in small groups or as singles this week forcing buyers to piece together loads. Quality this week was mostly average and not as attractive as last weeks offering. Many blemished or odd cattle continue to be marketed and demand for these offerings was mostly good. Cattle with short ears of tails are selling with only slight discounts to non-blemished cattle as buyers search for cattle with value that will still feed. Internet bidding was very active this week with several buyers online actively buying feeding cattle. Market activity was mostly active this sale. Weigh up cows sold on good to very good demand for light to moderate offerings. Feeding cows sold on mostly good to very good demand again this week. Packer buyers were not as aggressive at bidding on feeding cows this week, opting to pass and let private feeders buy. Feeding cows sold steady to weak on a slightly lower quality offering. Several consignments of cows had been on feed and were purchased to return to feed this week. Demand for slaughter cows was good to very good. Breaking cows sold steady to 2.00 higher, boning and lean cows sold 2.00-5.00 higher in a very narrow comparison. Most cows purchased for slaughter were too blemished to feed. Slaughter bulls sold mostly steady on very good demand. Packers and feeding bull buyers both showed good demand for bulls again this week. Young age cows suitable to feed or rebreed sold on good to very good demand. Quality this week was average to attractive. Several cows which recently lost calves sold this sale and demand for these offerings was good to very good. Young age offerings sold mostly 5.00-10.00 higher in a narrow comparison.

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
400	400	1	600.00	$600.00	$2,400	-25.52
518–533	528	6	520.00–542.50	$527.36	$2,784	+5.43
565	565	1	512.50	$512.50	$2,896	+11.48
630	630	1	452.50	$452.50	$2,851	-2.15
663	663	6	435.00	$435.00	$2,884	+10.71

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
598	598	11	442.50	$442.50	$2,646	—

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
373	373	2	575.00	$575.00	$2,145	-48.21
415	415	2	560.00	$560.00	$2,324	-42.50
465	465	2	530.00	$530.00	$2,464	—
743	743	2	380.00	$380.00	$2,823	—

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
455–495	475	2	527.50–557.50	$541.87	$2,574	—

Medium and Large 2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
805	805	1	340.00	$340.00	$2,737	—

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Feeder Heifers

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
504	504	7	477.50	$477.50	$2,407	-5.67
575–576	576	7	430.00	$430.00	$2,477	-16.82
610	610	3	415.00	$415.00	$2,532	+20.00
650–680	658	4	365.00–387.50	$381.68	$2,511	—
725	725	8	358.00	$358.00	$2,596	-1.00

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
403–445	414	4	510.00–540.00	$531.93	$2,202	-2.64
481	481	6	500.00	$500.00	$2,405	+45.00
705	705	1	353.00	$353.00	$2,489	—
840	840	1	310.00	$310.00	$2,604	—

Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
460–465	461	4	505.00	$505.00	$2,328	—

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Feeder Bulls

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
570	570	1	430.00	$430.00	$2,451	—
695	695	3	385.00	$385.00	$2,676	—
715	715	1	375.00	$375.00	$2,681	-7.50
837	837	3	350.00	$350.00	$2,930	+10.00

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
798	798	2	345.00	$345.00	$2,753	—
895	895	1	315.00	$315.00	$2,819	—

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Slaughter Cows

Boner ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1255–1675	1369	80-85%	50	180.00–182.00	$180.24	$2,467	—
1258–1545	1376	80-85%	12	142.00–159.00	$146.53	$2,016	—
1315–1565	1389	80-85%	4	120.00–139.00	$129.98	$1,805	—
1225–1545	1397	80-85%	78	164.50–180.00	$173.42	$2,423	—
1310–1600	1459	80-85%	15	145.00–164.00	$159.32	$2,324	+25.05
1710–1715	1713	80-85%	2	171.00–173.00	$172.00	$2,946	—

Lean ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
805	805	85-90%	1	125.00	$125.00	$1,006	—
900	900	85-90%	1	130.00	$130.00	$1,170	—
935	935	85-90%	1	85.00	$85.00	$795	—
1010–1235	1107	85-90%	15	142.50–163.00	$151.83	$1,681	—
1060–1255	1150	85-90%	11	130.00–136.00	$132.07	$1,519	+12.90
1000–1255	1151	85-90%	6	139.00–147.50	$143.88	$1,656	+24.71
1155–1160	1158	85-90%	2	110.00–112.50	$111.25	$1,288	-7.92
1115–1243	1201	85-90%	18	165.00–177.00	$173.07	$2,079	-6.93
1214–1220	1215	85-90%	9	179.00–179.50	$179.44	$2,180	-0.56

Breaker ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1382	1382	75-80%	10	180.50	$180.50	$2,495	—
1575	1575	75-80%	1	163.00	$163.00	$2,567	—
1605–1660	1633	75-80%	4	170.00–176.50	$173.50	$2,833	—
1670	1670	75-80%	1	156.00	$156.00	$2,605	-22.21
1505–2020	1678	75-80%	18	167.00–178.50	$172.56	$2,896	-1.44

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Slaughter Bulls

YG1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1245–1965	1563	3	170.00–186.50	$179.28	$2,802	-15.91
1290–1685	1566	6	188.00–197.50	$192.48	$3,014	-2.71
1740–2015	1878	2	173.00–178.00	$175.68	$3,299	-42.32
1715–2305	2066	10	190.00–205.00	$197.62	$4,083	—
1870–2350	2098	5	209.00–218.00	$211.40	$4,435	—
2540	2540	1	202.00	$202.00	$5,131	—
2620	2620	1	206.00	$206.00	$5,397	—

YG2-3 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
1825–2315	1948	4	198.00–206.00	$200.38	$3,903	—
2490	2490	1	186.00	$186.00	$4,631	—

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Stock Cows

Medium and Large 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
735–1155	927	(<2 yrs)	Open	31	235.00–340.00	$306.73	$2,843
840–1400	1000	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	61	200.00–320.00	$288.37	$2,884
1200–1260	1223	Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	Open	6	174.00–187.00	$183.29	$2,242

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
820–960	925	(<2 yrs)	Open	4	255.00–290.00	$282.24	$2,611
860–1345	1107	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	12	180.00–270.00	$211.61	$2,343

Medium 1-2 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
840–985	911	Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	4	205.00–240.00	$223.44	$2,036

Medium 1 ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd
820	820	(<2 yrs)	Open	1	275.00	$275.00	$2,255

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Bred Cows

Medium and Large 1-2 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1363–1455	1394	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	11	2,700.00	$2,700.00
1545	1545	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	1	3,050.00	$3,050.00

Medium and Large 1 ($/head)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Age	Stage	Head	Price range	Avg $
1315	1315	Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	1	3,400.00	$3,400.00
1363	1363	Young (2-4 yrs)	3rd Stage (7-9 mo)	2	3,800.00	$3,800.00
1610	1610	Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	2nd Stage (4-6 mo)	2	3,250.00	$3,250.00

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Dairy Cows

N/N/A ($/cwt)
Weight (lb)	Avg wt	Dressing	Head	Price range	Avg $	≈ $/hd	Δ last sale
725	725	85-90%	1	115.00	$115.00	$834	—

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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.