Aug. 1 USDA Cattle on Feed Report

By DTN Staff

This article was originally posted at 2:04 p.m. CDT on Friday, Aug. 18. It was last updated with additional information at 2:21 p.m. CDT on Friday, Aug. 18.

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OMAHA (DTN) -- Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 11.0 million head on Aug. 1, 2023. The inventory was 2% below Aug. 1, 2022, USDA NASS reported on Friday.

Placements in feedlots during July totaled 1.62 million head, 8% below 2022. Net placements were 1.55 million head. During July, placements of cattle and calves weighing less than 600 pounds were 365,000 head, 600-699 pounds were 250,000 head, 700-799 pounds were 370,000 head, 800-899 pounds were 373,000 head, 900-999 pounds were 185,000 head, and 1,000 pounds and greater were 75,000 head.

Marketings of fed cattle during July totaled 1.73 million head, 5% below 2022.

Other disappearance totaled 65,000 head during July, 16% above 2022.

DTN ANALYSIS

"I'd be lying to you if I said I wasn't holding my breath ahead of seeing what Friday's Cattle on Feed report was going to unveil, given that placements have been higher on the last two reports and that feeder cattle imports from Mexico are up 41% from a year ago," said DTN Livestock Market Analyst ShayLe Stewart. "But thankfully, Friday's COF report showed that placements were significantly lighter than a year ago, as they totaled 1.62 million head, which is down 8% from a year ago.

"Where I find the most comfort in today's report is that it passes the 'logic' test. Logically, after two months of sharply higher placements, today's report needed to show a sharp decline in placements, as the U.S. beef cow herd sits with the fewest beef cows it's had in the last 52 years. The only wild card that could have debunked that point was feeder cattle imports, and, thankfully, that wasn't the case today.

"There wasn't one weight bracket of calves nor feeders that surpassed the number of feeders placed last year on a weight group basis, and the only two states that saw greater placements than a year ago were Idaho and Washington.

"Couple this positive news with the fact that the sheer number of cattle on feed was lighter than expected and that the number of cattle marketed was slightly greater than anticipated -- the market should find today's report extremely supportive, and this could help the contracts trade higher early next week."

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DTN subscribers can view the full Cattle on Feed reports in the Livestock Archives folder under the Markets menu. The report is also available at https://www.nass.usda.gov/….

	USDA Actual	Average Estimate	Range
On Feed Aug. 1	98%	98.3%	96.5-99.1%
Placed in July	92%	94.9%	90.4-98.6%
Marketed in July	95%	94.8%	94.6-95.4%

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