Summertime Drought in South Led to Feedlot Expansion

WASHINGTON, DC – Drought in Texas appears to have prompted cattlemen to move more livestock into feedlots, according to the latest Cattle on Feed Report from USDA. While Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado experienced a slow down in cattle placed on feed, the Lone Star State placed 15 percent more this past September than one year ago. Overall, placements in feedlots during September totaled 2.09 million head nationally, 2 percent above 2018 with net placements at 2.03 million head. Texas also continued to build on its dominance in cattle on feed in feedlots with a capacity of at least one-thousand head. During the month of September added 5 percent more in feedlots for a total of 2.78 million head on feed – equally to one-quarter of the nation’s herd. Kansas surpassed Nebraska as the nation’s number two cattle feeding state with 21 percent of the cowherd. Nationally, those three states account for 66 percent of the inventory which fell slightly year over year to 11.3 million head on October 1, 2019. Marketings of fed cattle during September totaled 1.74 million head, up 1 percent from 2018 and other disappearance totaled 59,000 head during September, 4 percent above 2018.