Name: Public Auction Yards livestock auction prices — 2021-04-14
Creator: RaisedBeef
Published: 2021-04-14

Reporter comment USDA

As filed

Compared to last week: Feeder cattle were too lightly tested last week to develop any market trend. Today Public auction yards hosted its annual April fest feeder special. Demand was mostly moderate to good for heavy offerings. Quality was mostly average to very attractive. Feeders were offered in both load lots and packages. Demand for light fleshed cattle suitable to run on grass was mostly moderate today. Demand for grass cattle was slightly lower this week as concerns over drought conditions and higher feed prices weighted on the market. Heavy weight cattle were mostly attractive to very attractive and despite lower CME feeder and live cattle positions this class of cattle sold with moderate to good demand. CME feeder cattle positions sold off today as higher feed prices pressured feeder contracts lower. The April contract closed 1.30 lower at 141.15, while the May closed 1.90 lower at 145.425. Market activity this sale was mostly moderate to active. Weigh up cows sold on mostly good to very good demand for light offerings. Packers and feeding buyers were both active in buying cows suitable to feed. Feeing cows and slaughter cows sold steady to firm in a narrow comparison. Weigh up conditions were mostly below average today as cows sold late in the evening. Most cows were pushing heavy amounts of fill. Slaughter bulls sold steady to firm in a narrow comparison. Young age cows suitable to feed or re-breed sold steady to firm as quality this sale was average to attractive and slightly higher than last sale. Several cow-calf pairs sold today. These offerings were met with mostly light to moderate demand. As discussed earlier, much of the state is dry and worries of a drought hampered demand.

Weight class

Heifers · summary 0–100 lb

Weighted average of every reported lot

0–100 lb heifers averaged $147.55/cwt on 3,384 head.

Average price

$147.55

3,384 head · 640 lb average

Value per head Derived

$945

Price × average weight ÷ 100

Grade differential Derived

−$357

per head · Medium 1 over Large 1

$41.19/cwt at this weight

vs the market

−0.73

vs MT average

What quality paid 0–100 lb

Frame and muscle grade

Frame / muscle	Avg wt	$/cwt	$/head	Head
Medium 1	395	170.00	672	20
Medium 1-2	348	156.65	546	34
Medium and Large 1	658	148.25	975	2,589
Medium and Large 2	471	147.79	696	77
Medium and Large 1-2	584	146.00	853	572
Large 1	799	128.81	1,029	92

One grade step is worth $41.19/cwt here — about −$357 a head. Across this sale the premium is widest at 0–100 lb. USDA reports each grade on its own line and never publishes the spread.

How it compared 0–100 lb

Same class and week · spot auction only

This sale3,384 hd

147.55

—

MT average3 barns · 4,059 hd

148.27

−0.73

A barn can sit above the state average at one weight and below it at another — check the class you actually sell.

Slaughter cattle

By class and quality grade · $/cwt

Cull cows and bulls are graded, not weight-classed — grade is what moves the money here.

Class	Grade	Dressing	Avg wt	$/cwt	$/head	Head
Bulls	—	High	1,699	89.75	1,524	20
Cows	Boner 80-85%	Low	1,399	66.97	937	51
Cows	Breaker 75-80%	Low	1,775	66.75	1,185	2thin
Cows	Lean 85-90%	Low	1,202	64.71	778	50

Every lot, as filed

100 lots · USDA AMS · Public Auction Yards Livestock Cattle Auction - Billings, MT (Wed)

Nothing removed and nothing rounded — the same lots as the USDA report, with per-head values added.

Class	Grade / description	Weight	Avg wt	Price	Range	Per head	Head
Steers	Medium and Large 1	—	413	201.36/cwt	198.00–202.00	832	31
Steers	Medium and Large 1Fleshy	—	586	174.50/cwt	174.50–174.50	1,023	23
Steers	Medium and Large 1	—	920	129.46/cwt	127.00–130.00	1,191	13
Steers	Medium and Large 1	—	336	208.00/cwt	208.00–208.00	699	16
Bulls	Medium and Large 1	—	495	177.50/cwt	177.50–177.50	879	5
Heifers	Medium and Large 1	—	522	163.40/cwt	159.00–169.00	853	210
Heifers	Medium and Large 1	—	679	146.83/cwt	142.00–149.50	997	262
Steers	Medium and Large 1	—	485	193.98/cwt	193.00–199.00	941	17
Heifers	Medium and Large 1	—	829	128.92/cwt	125.00–131.00	1,069	132
Heifers	Medium and Large 1	—	621	151.55/cwt	146.00–154.50	941	379
Steers	Medium and Large 1	—	814	136.41/cwt	135.50–139.00	1,110	129
Heifers	Medium and Large 1	—	725	140.20/cwt	135.50–144.00	1,016	591
Heifers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	680	135.32/cwt	133.50–139.00	920	71
Heifers	Medium and Large 1	—	771	132.45/cwt	130.00–134.50	1,021	217
Heifers	Medium and Large 1	—	852	128.14/cwt	127.75–130.00	1,092	75
Heifers	Medium and Large 1	—	426	175.38/cwt	171.00–182.50	747	67
Steers	Medium and Large 1	—	674	162.45/cwt	157.00–171.00	1,095	310
Steers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	494	182.41/cwt	180.00–189.00	901	22
Steers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	757	137.25/cwt	136.50–138.00	1,039	4
Heifers	Medium and Large 1	—	571	158.81/cwt	153.50–164.50	907	457
Heifers	Medium and Large 1	—	962	120.00/cwt	120.00–120.00	1,154	16
Bulls	Medium and Large 1	—	603	136.00/cwt	136.00–136.00	820	14
Heifers	Medium and Large 1Fleshy	—	698	134.00/cwt	134.00–134.00	935	6
Steers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	619	149.60/cwt	149.00–150.50	926	17
Steers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	735	144.65/cwt	143.00–146.50	1,063	33
Heifers	Medium and Large 1Replacement	—	766	136.00/cwt	136.00–136.00	1,042	17
Steers	Medium and Large 1	—	723	153.21/cwt	148.00–158.00	1,108	143
Steers	Medium and Large 1	—	570	181.48/cwt	177.00–184.00	1,034	142
Steers	Medium and Large 1	—	875	136.20/cwt	133.00–138.25	1,192	176
Heifers	Medium and Large 1Replacement	—	739	145.50/cwt	145.50–145.50	1,075	35
Steers	Medium and Large 1	—	527	190.42/cwt	187.00–195.00	1,004	54
Steers	Medium and Large 1	—	760	146.60/cwt	141.00–150.00	1,114	33
Steers	Medium and Large 1Fleshy	—	966	120.00/cwt	120.00–120.00	1,159	29
Steers	Medium and Large 1Fleshy	—	788	136.50/cwt	136.50–136.50	1,076	11
Cow-Calf Pairs	Medium and Large 1	—	1,569	1,503.47/cwt	1,350.00–1,550.00	23,589	16
Cow-Calf Pairs	Medium and Large 1Broken Mouth	—	1,629	1,371.29/cwt	1,350.00–1,375.00	22,338	19
Steers	Medium and Large 1	—	633	173.19/cwt	169.25–179.25	1,096	498
Heifers	Medium and Large 1Replacement	—	836	133.00/cwt	133.00–133.00	1,112	7
Cow-Calf Pairs	Medium and Large 1	—	1,613	1,400.00/cwt	1,400.00–1,400.00	22,582	32
Cow-Calf Pairs	Medium and Large 1	—	1,555	1,675.00/cwt	1,675.00–1,675.00	26,046	9
Steers	Medium and Large 1Fleshy	—	736	146.70/cwt	146.50–147.00	1,080	35
Steers	Medium and Large 1Fleshy	—	649	163.50/cwt	163.50–163.50	1,061	33
Heifers	Medium and Large 1Fancy	—	581	165.00/cwt	165.00–165.00	959	21
Heifer Pairs	Medium and Large 1	—	1,141	1,600.00/cwt	1,600.00–1,600.00	18,256	10
Cows	Boner 80-85%Return to Feed	—	1,545	65.50/cwt	65.50–65.50	1,012	2
Bulls	—	—	2,011	96.74/cwt	95.00–98.50	1,945	4
Bulls	—	—	1,836	91.24/cwt	87.00–93.50	1,675	9
Bulls	—Return to Feed	—	1,305	81.92/cwt	81.00–83.00	1,069	2
Bulls	—Return to Feed	—	1,326	85.00/cwt	85.00–85.00	1,127	4
Bulls	—	—	1,490	83.00/cwt	83.00–83.00	1,237	1
Cows	Lean 85-90%	—	1,256	64.33/cwt	59.00–66.00	808	21
Cows	Breaker 75-80%Return to Feed	—	1,690	68.50/cwt	68.50–68.50	1,158	1
Cows	Boner 80-85%Return to Feed	—	1,340	68.91/cwt	67.00–71.00	923	22
Cows	Boner 80-85%	—	1,466	64.32/cwt	60.00–66.00	943	16
Cows	Lean 85-90%	—	1,213	66.97/cwt	66.50–67.50	812	2
Cows	Lean 85-90%Return to Feed	—	1,177	65.56/cwt	64.00–66.25	772	16
Heifers	Large 1	—	729	129.02/cwt	128.50–131.00	941	14
Heifers	Large 1	—	662	139.08/cwt	134.00–139.50	921	41
Cows	Lean 85-90%Return to Feed	—	1,195	67.43/cwt	66.50–71.50	806	8
Cows	Lean 85-90%Light Weight	—	965	54.00/cwt	54.00–54.00	521	3
Steers	Large 1	—	741	140.00/cwt	140.00–140.00	1,037	26
Steers	Large 1	—	1,183	113.00/cwt	113.00–113.00	1,337	6
Stock Cows	Medium and Large 1	—	986	103.13/cwt	81.00–112.50	1,017	39
Heifers	Medium 1-2	—	354	159.00/cwt	159.00–159.00	563	18
Cows	Breaker 75-80%	—	1,860	65.00/cwt	65.00–65.00	1,209	1
Cows	Boner 80-85%	—	1,393	67.23/cwt	66.50–68.00	937	11
Bulls	Large 1	—	1,023	111.00/cwt	111.00–111.00	1,136	2
Heifers	Large 1Fleshy	—	1,028	114.00/cwt	114.00–114.00	1,172	29
Heifers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	730	131.28/cwt	129.00–133.50	958	19
Cow-Calf Pairs	Medium and Large 1Broken Mouth	—	1,387	1,182.01/cwt	1,150.00–1,225.00	16,394	20
Heifers	Large 1	—	791	129.50/cwt	129.50–129.50	1,024	8
Steers	Large 1	—	992	125.00/cwt	125.00–125.00	1,240	7
Stock Cows	Medium and Large 1-2	—	1,215	67.50/cwt	67.50–67.50	820	1
Stock Cows	Medium and Large 1	—	1,121	77.86/cwt	66.00–91.00	873	31
Steers	Medium and Large 2	—	501	165.50/cwt	162.00–169.00	829	16
Steers	Medium and Large 2	—	693	133.00/cwt	133.00–133.00	922	11
Heifers	Medium 1-2	—	342	154.00/cwt	154.00–154.00	527	16
Heifers	Medium 1	—	395	170.00/cwt	170.00–170.00	672	20
Heifers	Medium and Large 2	—	366	155.00/cwt	155.00–155.00	567	13
Steers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	442	190.45/cwt	182.50–193.00	842	52
Heifers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	768	129.42/cwt	127.50–129.75	994	33
Heifers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	525	154.83/cwt	150.00–158.00	813	71
Cow-Calf Pairs	Medium and Large 1	—	1,409	1,250.00/cwt	1,250.00–1,250.00	17,613	7
Stock Cows	Medium and Large 1-2	—	940	90.00/cwt	90.00–90.00	846	2
Heifers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	385	169.15/cwt	165.00–173.00	651	46
Heifers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	838	117.00/cwt	117.00–117.00	980	5
Steers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	840	127.30/cwt	127.00–127.50	1,069	5
Steers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	536	181.26/cwt	177.00–182.00	972	37
Heifers	Medium and Large 2	—	432	149.00/cwt	149.00–149.00	644	29
Heifers	Medium and Large 2	—	542	144.12/cwt	140.50–145.00	781	35
Steers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	575	167.22/cwt	154.00–175.00	962	56
Heifers	Medium and Large 1	—	369	176.00/cwt	176.00–176.00	649	9
Steers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	920	121.00/cwt	121.00–121.00	1,113	2
Steers	Medium and Large 1-2Thin Fleshed	—	858	135.00/cwt	135.00–135.00	1,158	6
Heifers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	580	146.98/cwt	139.00–152.00	852	97
Heifers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	442	160.77/cwt	157.50–162.00	711	49
Steers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	397	202.00/cwt	202.00–202.00	802	13
Heifers	Medium and Large 1	—	475	169.78/cwt	169.00–171.00	806	88
Heifers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	635	138.88/cwt	134.00–139.50	882	148
Heifers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	475	154.31/cwt	151.00–165.00	733	33

How this sale compares

Montana weighted averages

One sale is one barn on one day. The state ladder is every Montana auction USDA reported that week, weighted by head — the fairer test of whether a lot sold well.

Montana feeder prices, every weight →Every state and region →