Cattle on feed

Cattle on feed

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
USDA’s latest Cattle on Feed report, released March 20, shows the number of animals on feed to be essentially unchanged from 2019. The report provides monthly estimates of the number of cattle being fed for slaughter. For the report, USDA surveys feedlots of 1,000 head or more, as this represents 85% of all fed cattle. Cattle feeders provide data on inventory, placements, marketings and other disappearance.

March Cattle on Feed Report

This report showed a total inventory of 11.806 million head for the United States on March 1. This lack of change year-over-year is right in line with analysts’ expectations of an average increase of 0.2% in feedlot inventories.

While total inventories are an important component of the report, other key factors include placements (new animals being placed on feed) and marketings (animals being taken off feed and sold for slaughter). Cattle feeders aggressively marketed fed cattle in February, pushing marketings up 5.5% to 1.775 million head, nearly matching the average analyst expectation of a 5.6% increase. The last quarter of 2019 offered decent opportunities for hedging, and some of February’s aggressive marketing may have been hedged cattle. This aggressive marketing could very much continue into March, particularly with whatever remaining cattle have already been hedged.

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