Market plan
Hold or sell calculator
Enter today's weight and your cost of gain. See whether the extra pounds will outrun the seasonal price curve, and the week it stops paying to hold.
SALE BARN REPORT
Billings sheep and lamb prices
Public Auction Yards in Billings, Montana, reported by USDA Market News. Sheep and lambs sell Mondays. Prices below are from the Oct 5, 2026 sale, against last week, last year and the 5-year average. Plus a seasonal outlook that follows the holidays that drive demand.
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AUCTION RESULTS AT A GLANCE.
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MONTANAPublic Auction Yards, MT · Sale of Oct 5, 2026
| Weight | This week $/cwt | Sep 21 | Year ago | 5-yr avg | Head |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slaughter lambs | |||||
| Under 60 lb | — | — | — | 194.00 | — |
| 60–80 lb | 288.92 | — | 213.08 | 202.08 | 9THIN |
| 80–110 lbMOST SOLD | 240.00 | 274.76 | 196.23 | 176.04 | 14 |
| 110 lb and up | 242.04 | 255.00 | — | 129.00 | 80 |
| Slaughter ewes | |||||
| All weights | 127.74 | 126.55 | 81.16 | 74.78 | 345 |
| Rams | |||||
| All weights | 104.96 | 127.36 | 99.14 | 95.72 | 17 |
THINFewer than 10 head behind a price: lambs under 60 lb had 4 head in the 5-year average; lambs 60–80 lb had 9 head on Oct 5. A price that thin is what one or two animals brought, not where the market is, so compare it with care.
THE MARKET READ
Lambs in the 80–110 lb range averaged $240.00/cwt at the Oct 5 sale, down $34.76 since the Sep 21 sale and $43.77 over the same sale a year ago. Receipts were 2,530 head, 40% lighter than a year ago.
Animals are graded as USDA defines them. Prices are head-weighted averages of Choice 1–3 lots at average dressing, wool and hair breeds combined. The 5-year average is the same sale week, 2021–2025.Source: USDA AMS Market News
EVERY MARKET WE REPORT
Start free with your local market report.
A free account gets the weekly report for your home sale barn. The Market plan opens every barn below, with full sale history and the market tools.
Arkansas
Beebe Livestock AuctionBeebe · 2nd Saturday
Salem StockyardsSalem · Thursdays
Colorado
Centennial Livestock AuctionFort Collins · Wednesdays
Indiana
Shipshewana LivestockShipshewana · Wednesdays
Iowa
Kalona Sale BarnKalona · Wednesdays
Kentucky
Blue Grass Stockyards of RichmondRichmond · 2nd & 4th Monday
Paris StockyardsParis · 1st & 3rd Tuesday
United Producers Inc.Bowling Green · 2nd & 4th Thursday
Washington County Graded Sheep & Goat SaleSpringfield · 3rd Saturday
West Kentucky Auction BarnMayfield · 3rd Tuesday
Maryland
Four States Livestock SalesHagerstown · Wednesdays
Mississippi
Y & R Livestock SalesBooneville · 3rd Saturday
Missouri
Buffalo Livestock MarketBuffalo · Monthly
Montgomery County Livestock AuctionMontgomery City · Monthly (2nd Thursday)
Producers Auction YardsNorwood · Monthly
SEMO Livestock SalesJackson · Monthly
TS White LLCDiamond · Monthly
Montana
Public Auction YardsBillings · Mondays
North Carolina
Carolina StockyardsStaley · Fridays
Carolina StockyardsStaley · Mondays
Cleveland County Agriculture & Livestock ExchangeShelby · Biweekly Friday
Powell Livestock CompanySmithfield · 1st & 3rd Wednesday
Southeastern Auction Co. Inc.Chadbourn · Mondays
WNC Regional Livestock CenterCanton · Mondays
Ohio
Mount Hope AuctionMount Hope · Wednesdays
Oklahoma
Pawnee Sale BarnPawnee · 1st & 3rd Thursday
Pennsylvania
Greencastle Livestock AuctionGreencastle · Mondays
Middleburg Livestock AuctionMiddleburg · Tuesdays
New Holland Sale StablesNew Holland · Mondays
South Dakota
Sioux Falls Regional Livestock Inc.Worthing · Wednesdays
St. Onge-Newell Sheep Yards LtdNewell · Thursdays
Tennessee
Trenton Regional StockyardsTrenton · 1st Saturday
United Producers, Inc. / Tennessee Livestock ProducersColumbia · Mondays
Texas
Producers Livestock Auction Co.San Angelo · Tuesdays
Utah
Producers LivestockSalina · 1st & 3rd Monday
Virginia
Farmers Livestock ExchangeWinchester · Monthly Monday
Madison Livestock MarketRadiant · Monthly Wednesday
Monterey Stockyard LLCMonterey
West Virginia
Jackson County RegionalRipley · Saturdays
THE SEASONAL CALENDAR
THE HOLIDAYS MOVE. SO DO OUR REPORTS.
Holiday buying drives much of the demand at the auctions. Several of those holidays follow a lunar calendar and arrive about 11 days earlier every year.
A month-by-month average hides those peaks across the year. We measure every sale by its distance to the nearest holiday, so our reports line up with the buying, not the calendar page.
HOLIDAYS WE TRACKUpcoming dates appear in each weekly report.
Eid al-FitrLunar
Eid al-AdhaLunar
Western EasterMoves yearly
Orthodox EasterMoves yearly
PassoverLunisolar
Caribbean holidaysMixed
US federal holidaysFixed
MARKET PLAN · $20 A YEAR
MARKET ANALYSIS TOOLS TO PUT MORE IN YOUR POCKET
Coming soon
Hauling comparison
Sitting between sale barns? Compare what the same load would net at each, after the drive.
HOW WE BUILD IT
BUILT ON THE OFFICIAL RECORD
New data every week, years of history on file
Pulled straight from USDA Market News and kept on file, so the comparisons run on the full record.
Preliminary vs. final
When USDA revises a report, we catch it and update the numbers.
Thin weeks flagged
When too few head sold to trust a price, we flag it.