Marketings Are Slow

The Oct. 21 cattle on feed report showed an inventory of 11.4 million, 8.6 percent above a year ago.  This was the highest October inventory since the series began in 1996.  From a long-term perspective, the most important numbers in the report were the quarterly on-feed inventories by class.

As of Oct. 1, heifers and heifer calves on-feed were 16 percent (569,000 head) above a year ago.  Smaller year-to-year increases were reported for steers and steer calves, which were up 4.7 percent (325,000 head).  Those numbers indicated that heifer slaughter should pick up relative to steer slaughter and that breeding herd growth has been rather moderate.

September placements into feedlots were down 5.2 percent from last year.

September feedlot marketings were below a year ago and the second lowest number for the month since the price reporting series began.  There was one less slaughter day in September 2006 versus ’05.

For calendar year 2007, fed cattle prices are forecast to average $85 to $88 per cwt.

Source:  USDA and Livestock Marketing Information Center