Cattle Feedlot Inventories

Some big numbers the latest USDA report on cattle feedlot activity. First, the inventory of cattle and calves in feedlots with a capacity of 1000 head or more. September first, eleven point four million head: USDA livestock analyst Shayle Shagam “the highest inventory level since the series began in 1996. Despite the fact that returns for cattle feeders during August were negative, they were still putting large numbers of animals on feed. There are some areas, especially in places like the intermountain region, which were extremely dry, which might have encouraged producers to be offering those cattle. We did see fairly large placements in Colorado during August.” As to the backlog of cattle in feedlots that built up during April and May. Shagam says it's being worked down pretty well, but looking at the percentage of the feedlot inventory on feed for over 150 days, that number is still a little bit higher than it was pre Covid. “The number of cattle on feed in U.S. feed lots with a capacity of a thousand head or greater on September 1st was just under eleven point four million head, which was about three point eight percent above a year ago. During August, cattlemen placed just under two point one million head on feed, which is about nine percent above a year ago. And during August, about three percent fewer cattle were marketed at one point nine million head. Now we have to adjust that August marketing data for the fact that there was one the slaughter day. And when you make that adjustment, we're talking about one point five percent higher on a per day basis.