{"id":256755,"date":"2025-11-21T13:09:26","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T20:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/montanafreepress.org\/?p=256755"},"modified":"2025-11-21T13:09:37","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T20:09:37","slug":"a-morning-at-one-of-the-states-busiest-cattle-auctions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montanafreepress.org\/2025\/11\/21\/a-morning-at-one-of-the-states-busiest-cattle-auctions\/","title":{"rendered":"A morning at one of the state\u2019s busiest cattle auctions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BILLINGS \u2014 At a 23-acre facility on the east side of Billings along Interstate 90, cattle trucked in from across Montana and northern Wyoming huff cloudy breath into the chilly morning air. It\u2019s around 8 a.m. on Oct. 30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Auction workers shuffle into a small, dusty building where a TV plays reruns of Western classics. They slide into chaps, shrug on well-loved Carhartt jackets, take final swigs of coffee and punch their time cards before venturing toward their horses. Outside, strands of sunlight warm the dozens of pens that make up the Billings Livestock Commission\u2019s cattle yard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the ensuing 12-hour event, about 300 ranchers and their roughly 4,300 cattle will move through the pens and into the adjoining auction house, shuffling through a series of mechanical gates until they reach the dirt-, mud- and manure-covered floor where buyers’ eyes scrutinize the livestock. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The sun rises outside the Billings Livestock Commission on Oct. 30, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Barney Sisco, who has worked at the Billings Livestock Commission for more than 20 years, takes a break from feeding and watering the animals.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A cow huffs in the cool morning air before the auction begins.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

More cattle travel through this auction lot, and another in Billings owned by the same family, every year than any other in Montana, according to reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture<\/a>. Local livestock commissions connect ranchers with out-of-state feedlots, large facilities that fatten cattle for three to 10 months before slaughtering them, through a competitive bidding process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In mid-October, cattle prices at auction regularly surpassed $4 per pound \u2014 marking their highest point in decades, according to Joe Goggins, whose family owns the Billings Livestock Commission and Public Auction Yards, another facility in Billings. The Federal Reserve indicates the prices for feeder cattle and replacement cattle \u2014 animals intended to repopulate herds rather than head for slaughter \u2014 have more than doubled since September 2021. We visited an auction at the end of October to try to understand how a 600-pound animal gets priced and sold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
Charlie Walpes and Jake Runningcrow unload a trailer of cows from Palisades Livestock that are set to be auctioned that day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Buyers congregate in the office and waiting area of the Billings Livestock Commission ahead of the sale.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Eric Belasco, a professor of agricultural economics at Montana State University, said the increased price of cattle can be traced back to the rising expense of maintaining a herd, including the elevated cost of hay exacerbated by a regional drought. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of cattle currently in the U.S. has been in decline since 1973, partly tied to things like an enduring drought. The total is now about what it was in 1960. Over the last five years, the number of cattle in Montana has decreased by about 250,000 head, a drop of around 15%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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David Johnson auctions off the cattle on Oct. 30, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Bought cattle are herded out to numbered pens, where they wait until they are picked up by buyers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Clint Johannes, who ranches near Worden, sold cattle at the auction on Oct. 23 and attended the auction the week of Oct. 30. He said that even with the increased sale price as a product of low supply, he\u2019s not getting rich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll our margins are incredibly small. This is a business. We want to have a profit. My family, we do it because it is a lifestyle, because it is what I want to do, what I want my boys to do,\u201d Johannes said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johannes calves at his family\u2019s ranch from the beginning of March until the end of April. He said selling in late October gives him a lot of time to fatten animals and ultimately puts him up against a less competitive market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re selling against a lot of folks who calve a little later,\u201d Johannes said. \u201cThey\u2019re gonna be bringing in 550-pound steers where we\u2019re bringing in 650- to 700-pound steers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Clint, Nolan and Norman Johannes sit for a portrait after watching Nolan\u2019s cattle be auctioned.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Sunlight streams through the fencing at the Billings Livestock auction yard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

But Johannes also said that a buyer values cattle based on the animal\u2019s frame in addition to its weight. A \u201crobust\u201d cow, as opposed to an overweight one, is more appealing to buyers, according to Johannes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johannes administers multiple rounds of vaccines and chemical treatments to his herd ahead of auction. A healthier cow can grow faster in the feedlots, where they are eventually slaughtered and sold to the meat-packing industry, giving purchasers an incentive to spend more on healthy animals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf I keep my herd in good condition and I buy quality cows \u2014 and quality bulls \u2014 and I have a good vaccination program, that should translate to a better price,\u201d Johannes said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Workers head out to get on their horses and start the day, shepherding cattle where they need to go.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Cattle push forward toward the auction house floor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Workers on horses and operating mechanical gates help position the cattle to be shown.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Auctioneer David Johnson works to help the Billings Livestock Commission determine the starting price point for bidding on cattle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bidding process often takes less than a minute. A herd of cows, or sometimes a single animal, dances under the gaze of buyers while auctioneers maintain a rhythm of fast-paced filler sounds between words<\/a>. When the bidding stops, the auctioneer announces the sale price and the cattle run out another door. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dozens of sellers \u2014 rural Montana and Wyoming cattle ranchers \u2014 sit on the edge of their seats. For them, the end of October can be a crucial time to sell so that they don\u2019t have to keep buying food for the cattle when the snow blows in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Buyers and ranchers sit among the audience, watching and taking part in the weekly ritual.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Buyers keep track of prices and head of cattle on sheets provided by the Billings Livestock Commission.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The buyers at this sale \u2014 about 10 to 20 total \u2014 represent feedlots. The number of livestock sold varies by seller. Virtually all the cows are destined to become food, served in restaurants or sold in grocery stores about a year or two years after they\u2019re sold at auction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before they\u2019re sold as beef, fattened cattle pass from feedlots into the beef-packing industry. Four companies control about 85% of the latter market<\/a>. Concern that the ultra-powerful players might be artificially inflating prices boiled into an official investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice<\/a> endorsed by Republican President Donald Trump early November. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the early end of the supply chain, Johannes makes his yearly income all at once on auction day, which ranchers call \u201cshipping day.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rancher Dustin Irgens holds his sleeping granddaughter, Ember, while waiting for his cattle to sell.
Credit:<\/span> Lauren Miller, Montana Free Press, CatchLight Local\/Report for America<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Jace Thompson takes a turn auctioning off cattle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo you enjoy when you get your paycheck? Every two weeks or every month, everybody gets a little euphoric feeling when they open up that envelope. We get that once a year,\u201d Johannes said. \u201cSo is there stress involved? Absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the payoff is more significant to him than money, even when it\u2019s as big as it was this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou’ve succeeded, you’ve made it across the finish line,\u201d Johannes said. \u201cI’ve done the best I can with what I had available and I gave those buyers the best product I could. So there’s pride.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Old Western movies play on the TV in the workers\u2019 break room.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Hats, chaps and jackets all hang in the workers\u2019 break room.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Barney Sisco, who has worked at the Billings Livestock Commission for more than 20 years, takes a break from feeding and watering the animals.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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