Montana Weekly Livestock Auction Summary

Montana · Weekly summary · Mon, Jun 3
● As filed101 lines reportedUSDA AMS · slug 1778

The state in one line

Counts as USDA filed them
Montana reported 101 priced lines covering 2,774 head across feeder cattle, slaughter cattle, replacement cattle. USDA puts feeder cattle receipts at 521 head. slaughter cattle receipts at 1,912 head. replacement cattle receipts at 962 head. Counted as USDA files them — 83 of those are cow-calf pairs, each counted once.

Montana Weekly Livestock Auction Summary

Mon Jun 3, 2024
USDA Livestock, Poultry & Grain Market News · Federal-State Market News Service, Billings, MT (LS-BL)
Feeder CattleReceipts 521Last week 1,046Year ago 714
Slaughter CattleReceipts 1,912Last week 676Year ago 1,649
Replacement CattleReceipts 962Last week 270Year ago 858

Compared to last week: Too few sales were seen this week to develop an accurate market trend, however steady to firm undertones were notice on steers. Heifers under 550 lbs sold with higher undertones, while heifers over 550 lbs sold with steady undertones. Cattle were mostly offered in small size packages or as singles. Demand was good to very good for light offerings. Quality this week was mostly plain to average. Demand for light weight cattle under 500 lbs saw some improvement this week. Cattle suitable to develop on grass continue to sell with the best demand, however very few offerings were seen. CME positions traded slightly lower this week. The August feeder cattle contract closed at 254.80 down 1.60 from last Friday, the September closed at 255.85 on Friday. Market activity this week was mostly active. Weigh up cows sold on good demand for moderate offerings. Packers showed mostly good demand for slaughter cows, however packers mostly purchased mostly lame or blemished cows to send to immediate harvest this week as they opted to feed most offerings. Slaughter cows sold mostly steady to 10.00 lower on breaking cows. Boning cows sold 4.00-10.00 lower, lean cows sold steady to 3.00 lower. Slaughter cow prices have been greatly impacted by packers searching for offerings. Additional packer were absent from the market this week allowing price to fall to near steady with the previous week. Packers showed very good demand for feeding cows as they try to buy up offerings to help manage supplies going forward into high demand periods. Packers also purchased average quality thin and light boning cows to hold for the upcoming 4th of July holiday. Demand from private feeders remains very good as well and both private and packer feeders showed very good demand for all feeding quality cows on offer. Feeding cows all sold steady to 10.00 lower. Again, fewer packers in the market allowed for cow prices to fall back to levels seen two weeks ago. Quality this week was mostly average to very attractive with many high quality reputation cows seen. Weigh up conditions were mostly average to above average. Most cows have been out on grass and were very empty at sale time. Slaughter bulls sold mostly steady to 5.00 lower, again fewer packer buyers were in the market. Young age cows suitable to feed or rebreed sold generally steady. Demand was good to very good for high quality offerings which buyers are looking to rebreed. Quality was slightly plainer this week as fewer very high quality offerings were seen. Overall, quality was average to attractive.

Feeder Cattle

As reported
HeadWt rangeAvg wtPrice rangeAvg price
Steers — Medium and Large 1$ per cwt · actual wt
2450–500490370.00370.00
6550–600564340.00–349.00347.48
7600–650627318.00318.00
1650–700660304.00304.00
9750–800761262.50–264.00263.83
Steers — Medium and Large 1-2$ per cwt · actual wt
4300–350346380.00380.00
3550–600583310.00–330.00320.91
3650–700673286.00–292.50288.09
1700–750710272.00272.00
3750–800773251.00–258.00253.35
Heifers — Medium and Large 1-2$ per cwt · actual wt
11450–500470310.00–317.50314.80
10500–550520285.00–307.50302.33
10550–600568282.50–297.00294.28
8600–650627270.00–275.00271.25
11650–700663240.00–259.00242.84
9700–750743242.00242.00
13750–800787226.00–228.00227.23
1800–850825225.00225.00
44850–900894213.00–219.00213.40
60900–950931212.00–215.00214.85
Heifers — Medium and Large 1$ per cwt · actual wt
11450–500482325.00–332.50327.96
8500–550530320.00320.00
20550–600553306.00306.00
83600–650623294.00294.00
9700–750728240.00–249.00243.39
7750–800755245.00–247.50245.36
Heifers — Medium and Large 1 · Fleshy$ per cwt · actual wt
12750–800784228.00–232.00230.66
7900–950919209.00209.00
Heifers — Medium 1$ per cwt · actual wt
4450–500480300.00300.00
Heifers — Medium 2$ per cwt · actual wt
3350–400360270.00270.00
Heifers — Medium and Large 2$ per cwt · actual wt
4450–500495275.00275.00
Heifers — Medium and Large 1 · Full$ per cwt · actual wt
5900–950942210.00210.00
Heifers — Large 1$ per cwt · actual wt
9500–550548245.00245.00
1850–900870217.50217.50
Bulls — Medium and Large 1$ per cwt · actual wt
6700–750714242.50242.50
4750–800776239.00–251.00242.03
1850–900885207.00207.00
1950–1000975209.00209.00
Bulls — Medium and Large 1-2$ per cwt · actual wt
6400–450413320.00–330.00326.63
1850–900860213.00213.00
11150–12001,185187.50187.50
Bulls — Medium and Large 1 · Unweaned$ per cwt · actual wt
2300–350328330.00330.00
Bulls — Large 1$ per cwt · actual wt
5550–600553255.00255.00
31050–11001,080210.00210.00
71100–11501,127196.00–200.00196.57
41150–12001,154197.00–202.50201.12
41200–12501,214189.00189.00
11250–13001,290160.00160.00

Replacement Cattle

As reported
AgeStageHeadWt rangeAvg wtPrice rangeAvg price
Bred Cows — Medium and Large 1$ per head · actual wt
Young (2-4 yrs)2nd/3rd Stage (4-9 mo)31,1952,100.002,100.00
Young (2-4 yrs)3rd Stage (7-9 mo)101,2402,100.00–2,450.002,268.63
Young (2-4 yrs)2nd Stage (4-6 mo)111,3351,400.00–2,350.002,001.94
Bred Cows — Large 1$ per head · actual wt
Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)3rd Stage (7-9 mo)21,5851,900.001,900.00
Bred Cows — Medium and Large 1-2$ per head · actual wt
Young (2-4 yrs)3rd Stage (7-9 mo)31,0722,000.00–2,100.002,032.65
Stock Cows — Medium and Large 1$ per cwt · actual wt
(<2 yrs)Open2461,005145.00–237.00190.52
Young (2-4 yrs)Open2891,130140.00–209.00161.90
Young/Middle Aged (2-8 yrs)Open301,213134.00–156.00139.31
Stock Cows — Medium and Large 1-2$ per cwt · actual wt
(<2 yrs)Open26953150.00–201.00176.15
Young (2-4 yrs)Open6968140.00–155.00143.28
Stock Cows — Large 1$ per cwt · actual wt
(<2 yrs)Open10979162.00–185.00178.64
Stock Cows — Medium 1$ per cwt · actual wt
(<2 yrs)Open9695202.50–244.00224.94
Stock Cows — Medium 1-2$ per cwt · actual wt
(<2 yrs)Open2793165.00–190.00177.15
Cow-Calf Pairs — Medium and Large 1 · Thin Fleshed$ per head · actual wt
Aged (>8 yrs)Open41,4162,300.002,300.00
Cow-Calf Pairs — Medium and Large 1$ per head · actual wt
Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)Open71,6773,450.003,450.00
Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)Open191,5292,550.00–2,900.002,658.75
Cow-Calf Pairs — Medium and Large 1 · Broken Mouth$ per head · actual wt
Aged (>8 yrs)Open471,3952,350.00–2,600.002,504.50
Cow-Calf Pairs — Medium and Large 1-2 · Broken Mouth$ per head · actual wt
Aged (>8 yrs)Open21,4432,300.002,300.00
Cow-Calf Pairs — Medium and Large 1-2$ per head · actual wt
Middle Aged (5-8 yrs)Open21,3282,300.002,300.00
Middle Aged/Aged (>5 yrs)Open21,5832,500.002,500.00
Bulls — Medium and Large 1-2$ per cwt · actual wt
Young (2-4 yrs)N/A21,250152.00152.00
Bulls — Large 1 · Registered$ per head · actual wt
(<2 yrs)N/A81,0992,500.00–2,650.002,535.21

Slaughter Cattle

As reported
HeadWt rangeAvg wtPrice rangeAvg price
Cows — Boner 80-85%$ per cwt · actual wt
1271,383129.00–139.50136.93
951,426139.00–147.00141.46
211,450116.00–130.00123.36
Cows — Breaker 75-80%$ per cwt · actual wt
281,638142.00–146.00143.29
401,582135.50–143.50137.79
211,680122.00–135.50130.63
Cows — Breaker 75-80% · Return to Feed$ per cwt · actual wt
141,564126.00–138.00131.86
31,507145.00–145.50145.34
321,553138.00–142.00139.08
Cows — Boner 80-85% · Return to Feed$ per cwt · actual wt
4071,373129.50–141.50137.72
561,441118.00–134.00129.35
2481,402139.00–149.00142.00
Cows — Lean 85-90%$ per cwt · actual wt
581,176123.00–136.00130.02
291,146103.00–124.00117.07
71,158134.00–140.00136.83
51,18990.00–100.0094.88
Cows — Lean 85-90% · Light Weight$ per cwt · actual wt
3953121.00–122.00121.32
494282.50–97.5089.73
9906100.00–116.00106.88
Cows — Lean 85-90% · Return to Feed$ per cwt · actual wt
1391,195135.00–140.50137.26
81,167115.00–126.00121.48
1161,191122.00–136.00130.30
Bulls — Heavy Weight$ per cwt · actual wt
12,600168.00168.00
Bulls — Light Weight$ per cwt · actual wt
31,172149.00149.00
71,336122.50–146.00135.88
Bulls — Natural$ per cwt · actual wt
41,803174.00174.00
Bulls — Return to Feed$ per cwt · actual wt
61,492149.00–157.50152.83
111,517132.00–149.00140.61
Bulls$ per cwt · actual wt
471,844147.00–166.00154.32
151,651131.00–148.00139.09
252,109162.00–176.00167.28
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.