Montana Weekly Livestock Auction Summary

The state in one line

Counts as USDA filed them

Montana reported 143 priced lines covering 5,892 head across feeder cattle, slaughter cattle, replacement cattle. USDA puts feeder cattle receipts at 5,803 head. slaughter cattle receipts at 1,048 head. replacement cattle receipts at 505 head.

Mon Jan 23, 2023

USDA Livestock, Poultry & Grain Market News · Federal-State Market News Service, Billings, MT (LS-BL)

Feeder CattleReceipts 5,803Last week 4,061Year ago 4,043

Slaughter CattleReceipts 1,048Last week 862Year ago 980

Replacement CattleReceipts 505Last week 1,002Year ago 416

Compared to last week: Steer calves under 500 lbs sold mostly 10.00 lower, steers 500-699 lbs sold 2.00-6.00 lower, steers over 700 lbs were too lightly tested last week to develop an accurate market trend, higher undertones were noticed. Heifers under 450 lbs were too lightly tested to develop an accurate market trend, however higher undertones were noticed on a higher quality offering. Heifers 450-649 lbs sold generally steady, heifers over 650 lbs were too lightly tested to develop an accurate market trend, steady to higher undertones were noticed. Quality overall this week was mixed from plain to very attractive with lots of variance noted. Most calves were weaned this week. Cattle suitable to go to grass or wheat were met with slighly lighter demand this week as both lower CME positions and winter weather weigh on the market. Heavyweight, feedlot ready cattle, were met with mostly good demand this week as orderbuyers, buying for packers showed very good demand for high quality offerings. Market activity was mostly active again this week with a large crowd on hand for all feeder specials. Weigh up cows sold on mostly good to very good demand for moderate to heavy offerings. Feeding cow buyers and packer buyers both showed good demand for cows this week. Quality was mostly average to attractive. Slaughter cows sold mostly 2.00-3.00 higher on breaking cows, boning and lean cows sold 2.00-5.00 higher. Feeding cows sold 2.00-3.00 higher as increased competition from slaughter buyers helped push all cow prices higher. Weigh up conditions were mixed. Slaughter bulls sold 3.00-6.00 higher in a narrow compairson. Young age cows suiable to feed or rebreed sold 10.00-12.00 higher driven mostly by quality as several ranchers sold sets of very attractive one iron homeraised young cows.

Feeder Cattle

As reported

Head	Wt range	Avg wt	Price range	Avg price
Bulls — Medium and Large 1 · Unweaned$ per cwt · actual wt
55	—	679	166.00	166.00
13	—	576	179.00	179.00
7	—	731	159.00	159.00
4	—	441	230.00	230.00
Bulls — Medium and Large 1$ per cwt · actual wt
10	—	881	138.00	138.00
4	—	956	115.00	115.00
6	—	810	137.00–144.00	140.51
4	—	771	129.00	129.00
10	—	622	177.00–179.00	178.80
1	—	915	129.00	129.00
Bulls — Large 1 · Unweaned$ per cwt · actual wt
4	—	799	136.00	136.00
Bulls — Medium and Large 2$ per cwt · actual wt
4	—	458	175.00	175.00
9	—	734	117.50	117.50
Bulls — Medium and Large 1-2$ per cwt · actual wt
24	—	574	166.00–171.00	168.22
Heifers — Medium and Large 1-2$ per cwt · actual wt
9	—	387	185.00–204.00	193.57
2	—	885	149.00	149.00
8	—	691	159.00	159.00
26	—	627	162.00–169.00	166.38
40	—	434	180.00–199.00	192.57
8	—	718	148.00–159.00	150.84
32	—	583	164.00–178.00	172.47
7	—	752	151.00	151.00
4	—	515	172.00–182.00	174.43
47	—	479	180.00–196.00	186.39
Heifers — Medium and Large 1-2 · Unweaned$ per cwt · actual wt
2	—	333	190.00	190.00
Heifers — Medium and Large 1$ per cwt · actual wt
11	—	665	166.00–174.00	169.60
46	—	388	215.00–227.50	221.13
119	—	429	206.00–217.50	213.39
81	—	758	156.00–168.50	164.16
240	—	629	168.50–183.50	177.53
342	—	567	177.00–194.50	187.67
250	—	478	197.50–212.00	204.31
351	—	519	189.00–209.00	200.71
23	—	716	161.00–168.00	167.70
Heifers — Medium and Large 1 · Replacement$ per head · actual wt
5	—	691	1,350.00	1,350.00
Heifers — Medium and Large 1-2 · Replacement$ per cwt · actual wt
79	—	571	186.50	186.50
Heifers — Medium and Large 1 · Fleshy$ per cwt · actual wt
4	—	903	143.00	143.00
Heifers — Medium and Large 2$ per cwt · actual wt
4	—	519	157.50	157.50
9	—	498	176.00	176.00
7	—	852	133.00	133.00
Heifers — Medium 1$ per cwt · actual wt
33	—	400	190.00–191.00	190.79
29	—	475	197.00–199.00	198.04
6	—	704	153.00	153.00
3	—	767	142.00	142.00
10	—	576	176.00	176.00
36	—	339	195.00–210.00	199.58
Heifers — Large 1$ per cwt · actual wt
6	—	498	185.00	185.00
36	—	594	175.50–178.00	176.39
3	—	737	162.00	162.00
39	—	637	176.25	176.25
6	—	783	160.50	160.50
Heifers — Medium and Large 1 · Unweaned$ per cwt · actual wt
5	—	495	196.00	196.00
3	—	375	212.50	212.50
16	—	547	191.00	191.00
45	—	626	176.50	176.50
Heifers — Medium 1-2$ per cwt · actual wt
15	—	303	180.00	180.00
Steers — Medium 1-2$ per cwt · actual wt
34	—	373	207.50–215.00	210.28
11	—	309	205.00	205.00
5	—	423	210.00	210.00
Steers — Medium and Large 1$ per cwt · actual wt
299	—	524	211.00–230.00	222.60
309	—	667	178.50–197.00	186.83
65	—	713	176.00–188.00	181.43
106	—	431	249.00–258.00	250.17
57	—	831	176.50–179.50	177.94
323	—	624	188.00–206.00	197.62
7	—	391	271.00–285.00	272.87
99	—	773	171.00–182.00	180.65
164	—	577	205.00–225.50	212.10
7	—	913	155.00	155.00
88	—	475	227.00–248.00	236.04
Steers — Medium and Large 1-2$ per cwt · actual wt
35	—	434	228.00–240.00	233.15
36	—	489	200.00–230.00	217.44
49	—	521	183.00–215.50	205.62
1	—	200	200.00	200.00
40	—	713	165.00–174.50	169.93
53	—	629	176.00–187.00	181.65
22	—	676	173.00–179.00	175.02
67	—	392	235.00–257.00	242.12
3	—	782	172.00	172.00
22	—	589	185.00–193.00	190.14
Steers — Large 1-2$ per cwt · actual wt
62	—	523	165.00–168.00	167.57
8	—	451	174.00	174.00
Steers — Medium 1$ per cwt · actual wt
8	—	676	173.00	173.00
45	—	536	205.00–210.50	209.09
9	—	354	249.00	249.00
7	—	486	205.00	205.00
25	—	411	216.00	216.00
7	—	594	171.00	171.00
6	—	638	180.00	180.00
Steers — Medium and Large 2$ per cwt · actual wt
16	—	569	156.00–179.00	169.12
8	—	442	210.00	210.00
6	—	509	195.00	195.00
19	—	617	160.00–170.00	166.71
Steers — Medium and Large 1 · Unweaned$ per cwt · actual wt
4	—	613	186.00	186.00
Steers — Large 1$ per cwt · actual wt
3	—	595	189.50	189.50
27	—	607	182.00	182.00
5	—	502	202.00	202.00
3	—	693	169.50	169.50
5	—	804	162.00	162.00
Steers — Medium and Large 1 · Fancy$ per cwt · actual wt
69	—	866	182.00	182.00
Steers — Medium and Large 1 · Fleshy$ per cwt · actual wt
9	—	991	153.00	153.00
Steers — Medium and Large 1-2 · Fleshy$ per cwt · actual wt
6	—	820	161.00	161.00
Dairy Heifers — Large 1-2$ per cwt · actual wt
12	—	761	130.00	130.00
1	—	870	128.00	128.00
6	—	674	138.00	138.00
6	—	808	129.00	129.00
4	—	720	130.00	130.00
Dairy Steers — Large 1-2$ per cwt · actual wt
9	—	827	140.00	140.00
28	—	727	177.00	177.00

Replacement Cattle

As reported

Age	Stage	Head	Wt range	Avg wt	Price range	Avg price
Bred Cows — Medium and Large 1-2$ per head · actual wt
Young (2-4 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	7	—	1,247	1,250.00–1,300.00	1,278.39
Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	9	—	1,305	900.00–1,010.00	944.75
Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	4	—	1,293	1,310.00	1,310.00
Bred Cows — Medium and Large 1-2 · Broken Mouth$ per head · actual wt
Aged (>8 yrs)	2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)	8	—	1,184	850.00–975.00	884.54
Stock Cows — Medium and Large 1$ per cwt · actual wt
(<2 yrs)	Open	120	—	865	111.00–159.00	150.59
Young (2-4 yrs)	Open	247	—	982	67.00–139.00	99.84
Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)	Open	16	—	1,042	86.00	86.00
Stock Cows — Medium 1$ per cwt · actual wt
(<2 yrs)	Open	6	—	797	132.00–133.00	132.83
Stock Cows — Medium and Large 1-2$ per cwt · actual wt
(<2 yrs)	Open	6	—	903	123.00–128.00	125.98

Slaughter Cattle

As reported

Head	Wt range	Avg wt	Price range	Avg price
Bulls$ per cwt · actual wt
17	—	1,826	97.00–109.00	102.68
1	—	2,405	107.00	107.00
14	—	1,639	75.00–95.00	87.90
4	—	2,008	110.00–115.00	112.02
Bulls — Return to Feed$ per cwt · actual wt
18	—	1,712	93.50–107.00	99.48
9	—	1,354	85.00–94.50	88.22
Cows — Lean 85-90%$ per cwt · actual wt
3	—	1,022	43.50	43.50
10	—	1,215	71.50–78.00	74.24
105	—	1,159	53.00–66.00	61.18
179	—	1,243	64.50–73.00	67.82
Cows — Boner 80-85%$ per cwt · actual wt
3	—	1,488	75.00–82.50	78.94
118	—	1,391	61.50–73.00	69.06
48	—	1,424	71.50–78.50	74.76
Cows — Breaker 75-80%$ per cwt · actual wt
1	—	1,715	85.00	85.00
30	—	1,628	76.00–78.50	77.67
9	—	1,710	68.00–75.50	72.26
Cows — Lean 85-90% · Return to Feed$ per cwt · actual wt
4	—	928	51.00	51.00
11	—	1,150	71.00–77.00	73.52
79	—	1,213	65.00–72.00	68.89
91	—	1,074	58.00–66.00	63.47
Cows — Boner 80-85% · Return to Feed$ per cwt · actual wt
69	—	1,395	59.00–72.50	69.21
101	—	1,422	71.50–79.00	75.17
3	—	1,452	79.00–80.50	80.02
Cows — Lean 85-90% · Light Weight$ per cwt · actual wt
6	—	942	52.00–65.50	59.63
9	—	923	50.50–52.00	51.08

Head, weight ranges, average weights and price ranges are exactly as USDA AMS filed them — nothing recomputed, nothing rounded — in USDA's own reporting structure. This is RaisedBeef's rendering of that data, not a copy of USDA's document.

Source: USDA AMS, as filed — nothing recomputed and nothing rounded. This summary aggregates the same sales the Montana barn reports cover, so it must never be added to a state total built from those barns.

Feeder Cattle — prices, barns, and planning

Fed Cattle — the cash market and what quality pays

Beef & Retail — from the box to the grocery shelf

Feed & Hay — the cost side, cash not futures

Cows & Bred Stock — the rebuild market

More

Montana Weekly Livestock Auction Summary

The state in one line