USDA’s monthly Cattle on Feed report will be released tomorrow. Analysts’ pre-report consensus estimates are for the total inventory on feed to be 98.1 percent of last year with the range of estimates between 97.4 and 98.6 percent of 1 August 2024. Those estimates imply an on-feed inventory of 10.8 million head, with marketings of 1.746 million head and placements of 1.552 million head.

Marketings are forecast at 94.1 percent of last year in a range of 93.9 to 94.4 percent. Marketings exceeded placements by 178,000 head in June and are expected to outpace them by about 217,000 head in July. This yields the lower inventory figure, currently estimated at 10.884 million head. If the analysts are correct, this would be the smallest...