# Cattle Auction Prices by Sale Barn (`standardwork/cattle-auction-prices`) Actor

Steer, heifer, cow and bull prices from hundreds of US livestock auctions in 30 states: head, weights, price ranges and averages. Public market reports.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/standardwork/cattle-auction-prices.md
- **Developed by:** [Standard Work Co.](https://apify.com/standardwork) (community)
- **Categories:** Business, Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$2.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Cattle Auction Prices by Sale Barn

Informational only. Not for navigation, safety, emergency, financial, medical, or legal decisions. Check the official source before you rely on it.

Prices are USDA Market News reports of past auction sales, not offers to buy or sell, and not financial advice.

### What it does

Finds the newest market report for each livestock auction in the states you pick and returns one clean row per price line: class (steers, heifers, cows, bulls, pairs, bred cows and more), grade, head count, weight range and average, price range and average, dressing, and the barn's notes (for example Unweaned or Fleshy). Covers the auction reports in the public USDA list: about 300 candidate reports in 30 states in the 30 days before Oct 17, 2026 (not all are weighted average price reports; others are skipped).

### Quick start (no code)

1. Leave the default to get the 3 newest Missouri auction reports, or type state codes in "States" (for example OK, TX, NE).
2. Optional: type a barn or town name in "Auction name contains", or a report number in "Report ids".
3. Raise "Max auction reports" to get more barns. Each barn report is often 30 to 150 rows.
4. Click Start and download the table as CSV, Excel or JSON.

### Output fields

Every row has the same fields in the same order. Missing values are null.
auction, city, state, reportId, reportTitle, reportDate, reportStatus, totalReceipts, section, class, grade, priceBasis, priceUnit, head, weightLow, weightHigh, weightAvg, priceLow, priceHigh, priceAvg, dressing, description, species, note, error, qcStatus, qcNotes, sourceUrl, retrievedAt, retrievedAtLocal.

- priceUnit is $/cwt (dollars per hundred pounds) or $/head (pairs and bred cows), from the report's own heading.
- priceBasis says whether weights are actual or estimated.
- reportDate is the sale date.

### Self-checks

Rows are never dropped. A row is flagged in qcStatus with a reason when a price or weight is outside a plausible range, an average falls outside its range, low is above high, the head count is missing, or the sale is older than your look-back window plus 3 days. A report that cannot be fetched returns one row with the error filled in.

### Source limits

- Only auctions that publish the standard weighted average report are included. Some barns report weekly, some monthly or seasonally.
- Each auction's newest report is used. Older sales are not returned.
- Values are passed through as published.

### Data sources and credits

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service, Livestock, Poultry and Grain Market News, public auction report PDFs (https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/) and the public report list. USDA information is public domain. Credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture.

### Disclaimer

This is an independent tool by Standard Work Co. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any government agency named here. Agency names are used only to say where the data comes from.
The data comes from public government sources and is passed through as published, only reformatted. Government data can be preliminary, late, missing, revised, or wrong, and this tool can fail too. This output is not an official government record.
Provided "as is" with no warranty of any kind, including accuracy, completeness, or timeliness. You are responsible for checking the official source before acting on anything here. Liability is limited as stated in the Apify Standard Actor Contract for this tool.

# Actor input Schema

## `states` (type: `array`):

Two-letter state codes, for example MO, OK, TX. Each auction's newest report in these states is used.

## `reportIds` (type: `array`):

Optional. Specific market report numbers, for example 1832 for Tulsa. Works with or without states.

## `auctionNameContains` (type: `string`):

Optional. Keep only auctions whose name or town contains this text, for example Paris or Joplin.

## `lookbackDays` (type: `integer`):

Only auctions whose newest report is from the last this many days. 1 to 60.

## `maxReports` (type: `integer`):

Stop after this many auction reports (newest first). Each report is often 30 to 150 rows. 1 to 100.

## `includeNonCattle` (type: `boolean`):

Also return sheep and goat lines when a barn reports them. Off returns cattle only.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "states": [
    "MO"
  ],
  "lookbackDays": 7,
  "maxReports": 3,
  "includeNonCattle": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

All rows in the default dataset.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "states": [
        "MO"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("standardwork/cattle-auction-prices").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "states": ["MO"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("standardwork/cattle-auction-prices").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "states": [
    "MO"
  ]
}' |
apify call standardwork/cattle-auction-prices --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,standardwork/cattle-auction-prices"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/svwetSs82O9erQxNQ/builds/WeQ9Tk1J1x3IT65br/openapi.json