Name: Public Auction Yards livestock auction prices — 2021-07-28
Creator: RaisedBeef
Published: 2021-07-28

Reporter comment USDA

As filed

Compared to last sale (7-14-21): Feeder cattle were too lightly tested last sale to develop an accurate market trend, however lower undertones were noticed on steers, while higher undertones were noticed on heifers. Quality this week was mixed from plain to attractive. Several sets of unweaned calves were seen this week. Most were split off pairs that would not bring enough to leave as a pair. Demand was mostly good for yearlings and light to moderate for calves. Several sets of replacement heifers were seen this week. Most had been turned out with the bull, however all heifers were purchased for feed this sale and were aborted at the consigners expense. Market activity was mostly moderate to active this week. Weigh up cows sold on moderate to good demand this sale. Packers continue to show need for cows for immediate harvest. Packers competed with several other slaughter cow buyers this week as well as with buyers looking for weigh up cows that could be bred. Both feeding and slaughter cows sold steady to 1.00 higher. Slaughter bulls sold mostly 1.00-2.00 lower this week. Most bulls on offer have been turned out with cows to breed and are thin in body condition and are lower in yield as a result. Weigh up conditions were mostly average to below average this sale as most cows were pushing some fill. Young age cows sold generally steady. Several sets of cow-calf pairs sold this week. Demand for these offerings was moderate.

Weight class

Heifers · summary 0–100 lb

Weighted average of every reported lot

0–100 lb heifers averaged $145.29/cwt on 418 head.

Average price

$145.29

418 head · 727 lb average

Value per head Derived

$1,057

Price × average weight ÷ 100

Grade differential Derived

−$457

per head · Medium 1 over Large 1

$18.14/cwt at this weight

vs the market

+0.87

vs MT average

What quality paid 0–100 lb

Frame and muscle grade

Frame / muscle	Avg wt	$/cwt	$/head	Head
Medium 1	586	148.22	868	18thin
Medium and Large 1	697	148.06	1,032	316
Medium 1-2	538	144.10	776	10thin
Medium and Large 1-2	730	138.07	1,008	26
Large 1	1,019	130.09	1,325	48

One grade step is worth $18.14/cwt here — about −$457 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 sale418 hd

145.29

—

MT average3 barns · 2,071 hd

144.42

+0.87

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	—	Low	1,727	84.67	1,462	106
Cows	Breaker 75-80%	Low	1,589	72.74	1,156	28
Cows	Boner 80-85%	Average	1,421	68.15	969	165
Cows	Lean 85-90%	Average	1,149	61.42	706	182

Every lot, as filed

94 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 1Unweaned	—	379	172.76/cwt	164.00–187.50	655	10
Heifers	Medium and Large 1Unweaned	—	430	148.38/cwt	147.50–150.00	638	8
Steers	Medium and Large 1Unweaned	—	293	190.00/cwt	190.00–190.00	557	2
Steers	Medium and Large 1	—	666	167.00/cwt	167.00–167.00	1,112	34
Steers	Medium and Large 1	—	703	167.75/cwt	167.50–168.00	1,179	38
Steers	Medium and Large 1	—	619	170.00/cwt	170.00–170.00	1,052	4
Heifers	Medium and Large 1	—	874	142.21/cwt	142.00–142.50	1,243	26
Heifers	Medium and Large 1	—	836	145.39/cwt	142.50–145.75	1,215	37
Heifers	Medium and Large 1Unweaned	—	480	140.78/cwt	137.50–141.00	676	43
Steers	Medium and Large 1	—	962	137.97/cwt	134.00–140.00	1,327	12
Steers	Medium and Large 1	—	817	146.26/cwt	144.00–147.50	1,195	13
Steers	Medium and Large 1Unweaned	—	433	164.10/cwt	160.00–167.00	711	5
Steers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	787	145.84/cwt	145.50–148.00	1,148	7
Steers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	653	164.00/cwt	164.00–164.00	1,071	2
Heifers	Medium and Large 1	—	921	135.92/cwt	131.00–140.00	1,252	34
Heifers	Medium and Large 1	—	665	157.23/cwt	155.00–158.00	1,046	36
Heifers	Medium and Large 1	—	993	133.00/cwt	133.00–133.00	1,321	3
Heifers	Medium and Large 1	—	740	151.85/cwt	148.00–152.00	1,124	78
Heifers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	848	131.00/cwt	131.00–131.00	1,111	2
Heifers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	774	138.01/cwt	137.00–139.00	1,068	4
Heifers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	725	138.42/cwt	133.00–142.00	1,004	10
Steers	Medium and Large 1-2Unweaned	—	106	125.00/cwt	125.00–125.00	133	9
Heifers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	643	144.00/cwt	144.00–144.00	926	8
Bulls	Medium and Large 1	—	835	126.00/cwt	126.00–126.00	1,052	1
Steers	Medium and Large 1Unweaned	—	496	156.59/cwt	152.50–157.00	777	32
Steers	Medium and Large 1Unweaned	—	591	158.25/cwt	151.00–169.00	935	15
Steers	Medium and Large 1Full	—	802	140.00/cwt	140.00–140.00	1,123	3
Heifers	Medium and Large 1Unweaned	—	225	160.00/cwt	160.00–160.00	360	4
Heifers	Medium and Large 1Unweaned	—	360	155.00/cwt	155.00–155.00	558	16
Heifer Pairs	Medium and Large 1	—	1,135	1,594.67/cwt	1,575.00–1,610.00	18,100	18
Cow-Calf Pairs	Medium and Large 1	—	1,321	1,685.00/cwt	1,685.00–1,685.00	22,259	18
Heifer Pairs	Medium and Large 1	—	1,502	1,775.00/cwt	1,775.00–1,775.00	26,661	14
Bred Cows	Medium and Large 1	—	1,225	63.50/cwt	63.50–63.50	778	2
Heifers	Medium and Large 1Unweaned	—	325	157.50/cwt	157.50–157.50	512	8
Heifers	Medium and Large 1	—	754	155.00/cwt	155.00–155.00	1,169	23
Stock Cows	Medium and Large 1	—	1,057	70.70/cwt	66.00–77.00	747	15
Stock Cows	Medium and Large 1Thin Fleshed	—	860	74.00/cwt	74.00–74.00	636	1
Stock Cows	Medium and Large 1Thin Fleshed	—	838	63.15/cwt	60.00–66.00	529	2
Cow-Calf Pairs	Medium and Large 1Broken Mouth	—	1,486	1,251.82/cwt	1,175.00–1,275.00	18,602	14
Cow-Calf Pairs	Medium and Large 1	—	1,450	1,310.00/cwt	1,310.00–1,310.00	18,995	21
Cow-Calf Pairs	Medium and Large 1	—	1,462	1,335.00/cwt	1,335.00–1,335.00	19,518	18
Bulls	—Light Weight	—	1,253	68.10/cwt	64.00–72.00	853	2
Bulls	—	—	1,605	76.31/cwt	68.00–80.00	1,225	16
Bulls	—	—	1,942	93.12/cwt	90.50–96.00	1,808	16
Bulls	—	—	1,798	85.88/cwt	81.00–89.50	1,544	51
Bulls	—Heavy Weight	—	2,595	89.00/cwt	89.00–89.00	2,310	1
Bulls	—Heavy Weight	—	2,500	78.00/cwt	78.00–78.00	1,950	1
Cows	Lean 85-90%	—	1,239	65.19/cwt	61.50–67.50	808	59
Bulls	—Return to Feed	—	1,433	76.58/cwt	76.00–79.00	1,097	6
Cows	Breaker 75-80%	—	1,885	68.00/cwt	68.00–68.00	1,282	1
Cows	Lean 85-90%Return to Feed	—	1,246	62.91/cwt	62.50–68.00	784	47
Cows	Lean 85-90%Return to Feed	—	1,175	70.24/cwt	70.00–70.50	825	4
Cows	Boner 80-85%	—	1,388	66.16/cwt	62.00–68.50	918	34
Cows	Boner 80-85%Return to Feed	—	1,545	61.20/cwt	60.50–62.00	946	3
Cows	Breaker 75-80%	—	1,704	79.20/cwt	76.00–82.00	1,350	4
Cows	Lean 85-90%Light Weight	—	715	42.00/cwt	42.00–42.00	300	2
Cows	Lean 85-90%Light Weight	—	839	54.31/cwt	50.00–59.00	456	28
Cows	Boner 80-85%	—	1,398	70.00/cwt	70.00–70.00	979	3
Cows	Lean 85-90%Light Weight	—	980	61.49/cwt	60.00–63.00	603	3
Heifers	Large 1Full	—	1,040	123.50/cwt	123.50–123.50	1,284	7
Cows	Lean 85-90%	—	1,152	59.09/cwt	54.00–61.00	681	39
Bulls	—Return to Feed	—	1,230	92.00/cwt	92.00–92.00	1,132	1
Bulls	—Return to Feed	—	1,428	85.78/cwt	80.50–90.00	1,225	12
Cows	Boner 80-85%Return to Feed	—	1,446	73.25/cwt	69.00–79.00	1,059	36
Cows	Boner 80-85%Return to Feed	—	1,426	67.34/cwt	63.00–69.00	960	85
Steers	Medium 1	—	549	170.00/cwt	170.00–170.00	933	7
Bulls	Large 1-2	—	1,246	95.00/cwt	95.00–95.00	1,184	4
Cows	Breaker 75-80%	—	1,600	71.39/cwt	69.00–73.50	1,142	6
Cows	Boner 80-85%	—	1,313	60.25/cwt	60.00–61.00	791	4
Steers	Large 1	—	1,024	122.01/cwt	118.00–126.00	1,249	4
Steers	Large 1	—	818	139.00/cwt	139.00–139.00	1,137	5
Heifers	Medium 1-2	—	531	145.00/cwt	145.00–145.00	770	7
Steers	Medium 1-2	—	671	150.01/cwt	146.00–161.00	1,007	8
Cows	Breaker 75-80%Return to Feed	—	1,608	76.80/cwt	75.50–78.00	1,235	4
Cows	Breaker 75-80%Return to Feed	—	1,519	70.50/cwt	70.50–70.50	1,071	13
Heifers	Medium 1	—	608	147.00/cwt	147.00–147.00	894	8
Heifers	Medium 1	—	568	149.20/cwt	146.00–150.00	847	10
Cow-Calf Pairs	Medium and Large 1	—	1,540	1,650.00/cwt	1,650.00–1,650.00	25,410	13
Cow-Calf Pairs	Medium and Large 1Broken Mouth	—	1,645	1,410.00/cwt	1,410.00–1,410.00	23,195	15
Bulls	Large 1	—	1,145	106.00/cwt	106.00–106.00	1,214	1
Heifers	Large 1	—	1,015	131.21/cwt	130.50–131.50	1,332	41
Steers	Medium 1-2	—	511	156.00/cwt	156.00–156.00	797	8
Steers	Medium 1-2	—	551	140.00/cwt	140.00–140.00	771	4
Heifers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	855	122.00/cwt	122.00–122.00	1,043	1
Heifers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	935	117.50/cwt	117.50–117.50	1,099	1
Steers	Medium 1-2	—	632	140.00/cwt	140.00–140.00	885	8
Heifers	Medium 1-2	—	555	142.00/cwt	142.00–142.00	788	3
Stock Cows	Medium and Large 1	—	1,081	78.75/cwt	71.50–84.50	851	14
Bred Cows	Medium and Large 1	—	1,335	65.54/cwt	61.50–69.00	875	74
Steers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	628	161.29/cwt	160.00–165.00	1,013	16
Steers	Medium and Large 1-2	—	732	160.66/cwt	160.50–161.50	1,176	6
Cow-Calf Pairs	Medium and Large 1	—	1,603	1,418.73/cwt	1,385.00–1,550.00	22,742	16
Cow-Calf Pairs	Medium and Large 1	—	1,506	1,735.00/cwt	1,735.00–1,735.00	26,129	13
Bulls	Medium and Large 1-2	—	985	99.00/cwt	99.00–99.00	975	1

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 →