8-4 FB Beef Up and Down

  The number of cattle in feedlots in Idaho is an up-and-down picture. Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in Idaho from feedlots with a capacity of 1000 or more head, in July totaled 215,000. Here is the up and down part. According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service housed within the USDA the number of cattle was up from the previous year but the cattle on feed inventory is down from June. Here is the NASS’s Vince Matthews: “ Compared to a year ago on July 1, we are up to 215,000 head. So that means that there are more cattle this year then there were at this time last year, right? Yes. We are up 8% from the previous year but down from June 1. The number of cattle that we have in feedlots that are going directly from there to slaughter but we are down from the numbers that we have on June 1. The  upward trend between  last year and this year is  an improvement over the national trend which saw all cattle and calves in the United States  this July one percent below July of last year. So that’s good news for the Idaho cattle market. Here’s to our cowboys.