According to Friday’s Cattle on Feed Report, the U.S. cattle herd is still showing signs of contraction.
A key driver of that may be current pasture conditions.
According to USDA Livestock Analyst, Mike McConnell, “The pasture conditions are much better than what they had been the past couple of years, so that’s certainly a positive thing in terms of, you know, potentially motivating and helping cow-calf producers, you know, decide on whether or not to retain the animals because obviously, if you’re going to retain the animals— you need to have the forage to maintain them. Otherwise, you’re going to be reliant on outside or off farm aid supplies to maintain them. So good forage is always a positive thing from the cow-calf standpoint.”
Yesterday’s Crop Progress Report showed that nationally, pasture and rangeland conditions are currently rating 25% very poor to poor, 28% fair, 39% good, and only 8% excellent.
