Cattle on Feed Report: Bearish

Farm Journal logo

The combination of heavier-than-expected Placements and lighter-than-expected Marketings produced an On Feed number as of April 1 that was just over 1 percentage point greater than anticipated.

In looking at the weight breakdown of calves placed into feedlots last month, all weight categories were up from year-ago. Notably, placements were up sharply in Kansas, Texas and Nebraska -- the three largest cattle states. Lightweight placements rose 5.1%, 6-weights were up 5%, 7-weights were p 8% and heavyweights were up 5.3%. With all three categories coming in on the negative side of pre-report expectations, the data gets a negative read and is expected to weigh on cattle futures Monday.

COF Report

USDA

Average

Range

% of year-ago levels

On Feed

95%
93.9

92.7-95.5

Placements

106%

99.1

92.1-103.2

Marketings

92%

93.5

92.4-95.1

 

 

Tags

USDA Cattle Archived Content
 

Latest News

Beef Production
Markets: Cash Cattle Rebound, Futures Notch Four-Week High
Markets: Cash Cattle Rebound, Futures Notch Four-Week High

After a mostly sluggish April, market-ready fed cattle saw a solid rally in the North and steady money in the South. Futures markets began to look past the psychologically bearish H5N1 virus news.

Greg Henderson
Ag Policy
APHIS To Require Electronic Animal ID for Certain Cattle and Bison
APHIS To Require Electronic Animal ID for Certain Cattle and Bison

APHIS issued its final rule on animal ID that has been in place since 2013, switching from solely visual tags to tags that are both electronically and visually readable for certain classes of cattle moving interstate.

Greg Henderson
Industry
How Do Wind, Solar, Renewable Energy Effect Land Values?
How Do Wind, Solar, Renewable Energy Effect Land Values?

“If we step back and look at what that means for farmland, we're taking our energy production system from highly centralized production facilities and we have to distribute it,” says David Muth.

Margy Eckelkamp
Beef Production
Ranchers Concerned Over Six Confirmed Wolf Kills in Colorado
Ranchers Concerned Over Six Confirmed Wolf Kills in Colorado

Six wolf depredations of cattle have been confirmed in Colorado from reintroduced wolves.

Maggie Malson
Beef Production
Profit Tracker: Packer Losses Mount; Pork Margins Solid
Profit Tracker: Packer Losses Mount; Pork Margins Solid

Cattle and hog feeders find dramatically lower feed costs compared to last year with higher live anumal sales prices. Beef packers continue to struggle with negative margins.

Greg Henderson
Beef Production
Applying the Soil Health Principles to Fit Your Operation
Applying the Soil Health Principles to Fit Your Operation

What’s your context? One of the 6 soil health principles we discuss in this week’s episode is knowing your context. What’s yours? What is your goal? What’s the reason you run cattle?

Shaye Koester-Wanner
View More