USDA’s monthly cattle on feed report for 1 May will be released tomorrow. Analysts’ pre-report consensus estimates are for the total inventory on feed to be 101.4 percent of last year. Those estimates imply an on-feed inventory of 11.535 million head. This is the first year-over-year increase in inventory since November 2024.
Source: Dow Jones, WPI Based on the pre-report expectations, the cattle on feed for 120 days would be 296,000 head, up 5.6 percent from a year ago, and the cattle on feed for 150 days would be 355,000 head, up 11 percent from last year. Placements in April are projected to be 103 percent of last year, though April 2025 was on the low end at 1.613 million head. Between a low bar to measure placements agains...
What You Need to Know Today: U.S. and Chinese officials are expected to discuss agriculture and non-tariff trade barriers ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington later this month, potentially opening the door to additional U.S. agricultural purchases or improved marke...
The U.S. will observe Labor Day on Monday, 7 September. U.S. markets and the WPI office will be closed that day. The next edition of Ag Perspectives will be published Tuesday, 8 September...
Key Takeaways: Drought and changes to the multi-year trend in cow slaughter and retention have the potential to dramatically alter beef trim supplies and pricing, and WPI specifically models three different drought scenarios for fall 2026. Based on our models, WPI expects 90 percent lean...
