USDA released the monthly Cattle on Feed report today. The total cattle on feed inventory was 11.7 million head, at 99 percent of last year. Placements in feedlots during January totaled 1.82 million head, 2 percent above 2024. Net placements were 1.76 million head. Marketings totaled 1.87 million head, 1 percent above 2024.

January marketings as a percent of inventory were 15.4 percent, compared to 14.6 percent in January 2024. On a daily basis marketings were 82,818, last month versus 83,733 in January 2024. January 2025 and January 2024 both had 23 slaughter days. 

Marketings of fed cattle from feedlots with a capacity of 1,000 or more head during 2024 represented 87.2 percent of total cattle marketed from all feedlots in the Unit...