Cattle on Feed Report Projecting Further Herd Contraction

WASHINGTON, DC – The national cattle herd continues to contract, as outlined in Friday’s Cattle on Feed Report from USDA.

The cattle inventory – in feedlots with a capacity of at least 1,000 head – totaled 11.7 million head, a 4 percent year-over-year reduction.

Placements in feedlots during January totaled 1.93 million head, 4 percent below 2022, with net placements at 1.87 million head.

Marketings of fed cattle during January totaled 1.85 million head, 4 percent above 2022, and other disappearance totaled 63,000 head, a 2 percent decline over the same time in 2022.

In addition, USDA released their annual estimates on the overall herd with a projection that cattle and calves on feed for slaughter market represented 82.5 percent of all cattle and calves on feed as of January 1, 2023,which is slightly higher than the 81.9 percent on January 1, 2022.

Marketings of fed cattle during 2022 represented 87.2 percent of total cattle marketed from all feedlots, up slightly from 87.2 percent just one year earlier.
(SOURCE: All Ag News)