The US Department of Agriculture released the latest Cattle on Feed report late Friday afternoon.
The report showed 11.965 million head at 1,000-plus head feedlots, an increase of 7,000 head from January 2020. Pre-report trade estimates predicted a slight drop. USDA livestock analyst Shayle Shagam says that the overall numbers were remarkably similar to the figures in the same report one year ago.
?During December, there were about 1.8 million head of cattle placed in feedlots,? Shagam said. ?That was about three-quarters of a percent above December 2020. Feedlots marketed just under 1.8 million head of cattle, which was just over 1 percent above the year earlier. That left the number of cattle on feed on January 1st at just under 12 million, which was virtually unchanged from last year.?
Shagam says heifers and heifer calves accounted for 4.57 million head, down slightly year-over-year.
?The other thing we got in terms of information was a snapshot of the number of heifers and heifer calves on feed on January 1st,? Shagam said. ?That number was just under 4.6 million head of heifers and heifer calves on feed, which was virtually unchanged from a year ago where it was about the same. As a proportion of the animals on feed, that was also very similar year to year. You?re talking about 38.2 percent of all animals on feed were females, compared to about 38.3 percent a year ago.?
Reports say the December placement figures were the second highest for January since the series began in 1996. Net placements were 1.78 million head. Additionally, other disappearance totaled 60,000 head during December, down 10 percent year-to-year.
