USDA released its Cattle Inventory report today. The total inventory of all cattle and calves as of 1 January is 91.1 million head; that compares to 93.8 million head, or 98 percent, of the cattle inventory on 1 January 2021. Most categories came in a little below pre-report expectations.
A key takeaway: there were more cattle on feed and fewer feeder cattle outside feedlots on 1 January compared to January 2021. For feedlots of 1,000 head or more capacity, December placements were a record at 1.96 million head, and the January inventory of 12 million was the second highest on record; those larger feed yards were 81.9 percent of the total number of cattle on feed as of 1 January, which was up slightly from 2021 at 14.7 million hea...
What You Need to Know Today: Commodities were mostly lower across the board today after yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting hinted at a potential interest rate hike later in 2026. The dollar index reached its highest level in over a year, and a strong dollar makes U.S. agricultural expor...
Tomorrow is the Juneteenth federal holiday, and the USDA, along with the rest of the federal government and the CME, will be closed, so the monthly Cattle on Feed report was released a day early. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity on 1 June amounted...
