Montana Cattle Auction Trends, 2023–2026

Four years of Montana cattle auction prices — the Billings live ring back to January 2023 and every Montana-origin video lot of the 2026 season — summarized here, with the full tables one click deeper. Source-linked throughout, and the data is free to download.

Prepared by Dirk Adams, Montana rancher for 40 years

Trend data: live ring — prices through August 19, volume through October 23, 2026 · video through September 17, 2026

Looking for current auction prices? This page carries the long-run trends, and the trend data behind it runs through the dates in the stamp above — not through this week. This week’s barn-by-barn results are on the weekly page, updated every Saturday. See this week’s auction results →

Four things the record says right now

The four-year price cycle
Benchmark January prices at Billings are up 65–130%+ since 2023, depending on class: PAYS 550–649 lb steers +71% ($267 → $457/cwt), the matching heifers +92%, cull-cow tops +96%, and the BLS blended steer midpoint +133%.
Full price tables →
Current direction
The summer video run repriced downward as it went: matched 50-lb bands fell from the June sales to the August and early-September sales, and the late-August live ring followed the CME break lower. Statewide 550–649 lb steers printed $398–$484 across the June–August weeklies.
June-to-August by band →
Channel depth
Video is where the volume is: 174,517 head of Montana calves sold in 1,207 lots through September 17, against 97,259 head through the two Billings rings January–September. The ring discovers the price; video moves the fall calf crop.
The season book →
Management signal: weaning
In matched weight bands, weaned calves out-earned bawlers by $8–$36/cwt on steers up to about 700 lb and heifers to about 550 lb — and the premium reverses above the crossover. Weight still pays more than weaning.
What weaning paid →

Find your question

Start from what you need to decide

Montana video steer calves gave back 12 to 14 percent from June to late summer in every weight band Video steers gave back $59–$81/cwt from June to late summer What Montana steer calves brought on video, June 16–26 vs Aug 10–Sep 17 · head-weighted $/cwt Source: lot-level data from Northern Livestock, Superior & Western Video Market June 16–26 Aug 10–Sep 17 $350 $400 $450 $500 $550 $600 $/cwt Change 450–499 lb $587 $506 −$81 (−14%) 500–549 lb $544 $480 −$65 (−12%) 550–599 lb $509 $445 −$64 (−13%) 600–649 lb $485 $423 −$61 (−13%) 650–699 lb $465 $403 −$61 (−13%) 700–749 lb $448 $385 −$63 (−14%) 750–799 lb $431 $372 −$59 (−14%)

Not a like-for-like index: the two periods drew different consignors, delivery windows and weaning mix. Heifers gave up less: −10% to +3% by band. Bands under 200 head in either period are left off. Underlying table: early season against late season, all bands →

What weaning paid in 2026: weaned calves out-earned bawling calves in matched bands on lighter calves, and the premium reverses with weight Weaning paid on lighter calves — the premium reverses with weight Weaned minus bawling, $/cwt in matched 50-lb bands · 2026 summer video sales Source: lot-level data from Northern Livestock, Superior & Western Video Market Steers 450–499 lb +$36 500–549 lb +$29 550–599 lb +$9 600–649 lb +$11 650–699 lb +$8 700–749 lb −$8 750–799 lb −$27 Heifers 450–499 lb +$11 500–549 lb +$9 550–599 lb −$10 600–649 lb −$6 650–699 lb −$15 Bars right of the line: weaned lots brought more than bawling lots in that band ($/cwt). Thin bands (under 3 lots) excluded.

Underlying table: what the market paid for weaning →

The detail pages

Go straight to the full record

  • Montana Live-Ring Auction Trends — Billings 2023–2026: PAYS and BLS volumes by month, feeder and slaughter prices by weight class, bred-cattle records, sale-by-sale commentary
  • Montana Video Auction Trends — the 2026 season lot by lot: 1,207 Montana calf lots across Northern Livestock, Superior and Western Video Market, with band matrix, weaning premium, delivery windows and sale calendar
  • Montana Weekly Auction Results — this week’s prices, head counts and market direction from every reporting Montana barn, updated every Saturday
  • Featured Montana Cattle Sales — named ranch consignments, breed specials and bred-female sales coming up at the barns and on video, and what they brought
  • Montana Brand Inspection Data — where Montana cattle actually went: head shipped out of state by county and destination, 2022–2024

Download the underlying data

Montana Cattle Auction Trends dataset, 2023–2026 — Excel workbook (.xlsx, about 78 KB, 12 worksheets): the full live-ring record (inventory, volumes, prices by weight class, culls, bulls, bred cattle) plus the complete 2026 video season including all 1,207 Montana lots. Live ring January 2023 – August 19, 2026; video through September 17, 2026, each sale as its house posted the book, the last book added September 22, 2026.

⇩ Download the data: BLS & PAYS live auctions 2023–2026 + 2026 video auctions (Excel)

Weekly results dataset — every sale row behind Montana Weekly Auction Results, all reporting markets, covering July 23 – November 7, 2026: Montana Auction Data. The August 2026 spreadsheet previously linked here was a corrupt file and has been withdrawn.

The original January analysis is also available as an interactive HTML report (HTML file, about 21 KB, January sales 2023–2026 — opens in the browser).

✉ Get the free weekly Honest Cattle Market forecast by email
The weekly forecast is free and the spreadsheet is open either way — the live-ring record and every 2026 Montana video lot. Got the data? Email me future updates.

How this hub is built

Live-ring figures come from USDA AMS reports for the Billings yards and the Montana weekly summary (methodology on the live-ring page). Video figures are built lot-by-lot from each house’s own posted sale book, filtered to Montana origin (methodology on the video page) — never from multi-state USDA aggregates. Automated collection; every figure is source-linked, and gaps are disclosed rather than estimated. Figures are informational, not an offer or appraisal.

Questions about the data? Write directly: dirkadams@honestcattle.net — corrections and source suggestions are welcome, and every figure can be traced to its source report or sale book.

Montana Cattle Auction Trends · Honest Cattle® · Montana Cattle Markets · Weekly Market Forecast

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