USDA released its January Cattle Inventory report today. The U.S. cattle herd is still in a contraction phase.
The total inventory of all cattle and calves as of 1 January was 86.7 million head, down 500,000 head from last year. Key numbers from today’s report are:
The cattle on feed estimate showed 87.2 percent on feedlots of 1,000 head or more capacity, slightly higher than last year. The combined total of calves under 500 pounds, other heifers, plus steers over 500 pounds, representing the number of feeder cattle outside of feedlots, was 24.6 million head, just slightly below 1 January 2024. The 1 January number of feeder cattle outside of feedlots is the lowest since 2015. Feeder cattle outside feed lots make up 63 p...
Congress is moving forward with its FY 2027 spending bills, while also still working to address FY 2026 funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which is still in a shutdown. The House Agriculture-FDA Appropriations Subcommittee marked up and passed its FY 2027 bill. The House bill prov...
Update for 6 April 2025: Last year, users pointed out differences between the 5-year averages reported in this app and what USDA estimates in its weekly report. The difference exists because WPI calculates average based on the last 5 years of observations for the current week. In cases where ob...
Beef packer margins improved to -$100/head last week, up $28 from the prior week as the Choice cutout stabilized following its brief post-Easter decline while fed cattle prices eased modestly. The cutout firmed to $384/cwt, while fed cattle prices slipped to $246/cwt, allowing packer margins to...
