The recent Cattle on Feed Report revealed some key trends in the U.S. cattle industry.
Livestock economist Michael McConnell breaks down the numbers and how there is a continued contraction in the nation’s cattle feed lots.
“An estimated 11.55 million head of cattle were in feedlots with over 1,000 head capacity. That’s 1% less than a year ago. During the month of April, 1.66 million head of cattle were placed into feedlots, which is 6% less than a year ago. During the month of April, 1.87 million cattle were marketed from feedlots, which is 10% higher than a year ago. However, when taking into account the two extra slaughter days that were in this month compared to last year, the marketing rates were about the same,” McConnell explains.
The USDA also shared that despite inventories being below the one-year-ago totals. There is still plenty of cattle available at market weights for future marketing and processing.
