September's Cattle on Feed

September's Cattle on Feed

Friday's monthly USDA Cattle on Feed report provided lower placements numbers for the month of September. USDA livestock analyst Shayle Shagam explains possible reasons why placement of cattle in feedlots was lower than some industry analysts expected.

Shagam: "It's possible there were a couple of reasons. One is the continued availability of forage is encouraging some of the cow/calf operators to continued to hold cattle before holding them in feedlots. Cattle feeders have been under pressure in terms of their returns and have obviously been trying to push the price of feeder cattle down. As cow-calf operators seen their returns diminish they may be a little more resistance to selling the cattle at prices that the feedlots are offering, if they have alternatives. One of the alternatives is obviously trying keeping the cattle around a little bit longer."

In Idaho, the number of cattle on feed was 240,000 head, which 7 percent higher than the previous month and up 7 percent from a year ago. An estimated 58,000 head were placed on feed increase of 29 percent higher from the previous month.

In Washington, the number of cattle on feed was at 185,000 head which was 3 percent higher than the previous month but 5 percent lower than a year ago. An estimated 40,000 head were placed on feed up 14 percent from the previous month.

In Colorado, the number of cattle on feed in feedlots with a capacity of 1,000 head or greater was estimated at 860,000 head as of September first. That was 8 percent above the previous month's inventory, and 4 percent above a year ago. Placements were 235,000 head which was 38 percent higher than the previous month.

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