Montana cattle prices

Week of Nov 2–6, 2026, Medium and Large 1 feeder steers averaging 500–600 lb, priced per cwt. Across 3 Montana auctions and 544 head, the head-weighted average was $433.29/cwt (lot range $389.00–$452.00). That ranked 5th of 21 states in our cattle prices by state snapshot.

Most of the Montana volume in this band sold at the Thursday Billings commission sale (395 of 544 head). Miles City was the other sizable barn; the Wednesday Billings sale had only a handful of head.

By weight band (same week, same grade)

Weight	Head	Avg $/cwt
400–499 lb	291	$499.19
500–600 lb	544	$433.29
601–700 lb	727	$388.69

Lighter calves bring more per cwt and less per head. Compare inside one band.

Biggest Montana barns this week (500–600 lb steers)

Auction	Head	Avg $/cwt
Billings Livestock Commission Cattle Auction (Thu), Billings	395	$435.47
Miles City Livestock Commission Auction, Miles City	140	$429.98
Public Auction Yards Livestock Cattle Auction (Wed), Billings	9	$389.00

Worked example from a real sale

From Billings Livestock Commission Cattle Auction (Thu) (Billings, MT) on 2026-11-05, one lot in our API:

{ "auction_name": "Billings Livestock Commission Cattle Auction (Thu)",
  "state": "MT", "report_date": "2026-11-05",
  "category": "FEEDER CATTLE", "class_name": "STEERS",
  "grade": "Medium and Large 1", "head_count": 207,
  "weight_avg": 562, "price_avg": 428.56,
  "unit": "Per Cwt / Actual Wt", "comments": "Unweaned" }

Reading it: 207 steers, about 562 lb average, at $428.56 per cwt. That is about $2,400 a head (562 ÷ 100 × 428.56), or roughly $498,600 for the lot. AMS tagged the lot “Unweaned”. Source: USDA AMS; we are not affiliated with USDA.

Pull Montana lots as JSON

curl -s -H "X-API-Key: kl_free_demo_2026" \
  "https://api.kossinlabs.com/v1/prices?state=MT&class=STEERS&category=FEEDER%20CATTLE&limit=50"

Free demo key (no sign-up): kl_free_demo_2026. Docs: api.kossinlabs.com. Product page: cattle auction prices API. Starter is $29/mo for higher limits — subscribe. 30-day money-back guarantee.

This page is a dated snapshot from USDA AMS Livestock, Poultry & Grain Market News auction reports (public); the API has current lots. Other states: cattle prices by state. For weight bands, see feeder cattle prices. For the cwt math, see cattle price per cwt.