A Bit of a Surprise in Cattle on Feed Report

USDA livestock analyst Shayle Shagam says

Shagam: “Industry analysts were actually expecting a decline in the number of cattle placed on feed in March.”

Instead Shagam says that there was an increase of 6 percent of cattle placed on feed compared to last March’s numbers.

Shagam: “We are looking at continuous tighter supplies of cattle outside feedlots so the available pool to pull from is shrunk somewhat but part of the problem may be a lack of forage especially in the southern plains area where some of these producers may simply be at the end of their forage supply and are basically having to send cattle to the feedlots that they might have kept in normal circumstances or sold to backgrounders.”

He explains why forecasters are expecting lower placement of cattle into feedlots for the remainder of the year.

Shagam: “We are anticipating that we’ll probably see declines in feedlot placements as we move forward in the year. Generally tied to the fact that there is a diminishing pool of animals available for placement. The herd has been shrinking the past number of years and it is going to be reflected in the fact that there are simply fewer animals available for placement. Another factor that will come into play obviously, to the extent that we get rain there will be some demand for animals for backgrounding which could also diminish the pool. There is also going to be demand for cows. So to the extent that producers may retain female stock heifers that would diminish the availability of cattle for the year as well.”