By Justin Walker
Communications Specialist
The number of cattle on feed is up in Texas and the United States, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.
On Dec. 1, cattle and calves on feed for slaughter in U.S. feedlots with a capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 11.5 million head. The inventory was up 8 percent over this time last year.
Placements in feedlots during November totaled 2.1 million head, which was 14 percent about last year’s numbers. Net placements were 2.03 million head.
U.S. cattle feeders with 1,000-head or larger capacity marketed an estimated 1.84 million head of fed cattle during November 2017. That’s up three percent over 2016 and the highest for November since records began in 1996.
In Texas, cattle on feed for slaughter totaled 2.66 million head as of Dec. 1. That’s up 9 percent over last year.
Of that 2.66 million head, 2.31 million were on feed in the Northern High Plains of Texas. That’s 87 percent of the state’s total. The number on feed across the area was up 9 percent from last year and up 1 percent from the Nov. 1 total.
About 480,000 head were placed in commercial feedlots during November, which is up 23 percent over this time last year.
Texas led all states with the total number of head on feed as of Dec. 1. Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado and Iowa rounded out the top 5, which accounted for 80 percent of the country’s totals.