Down 3 percent from last year, cattle and calves on feed for slaughter market in Texas feedlots with capacity of 1,000 head or more totaled 2.5 million head as of April 1, 2014. During March, 470,000 head were placed in commercial feedlots, down 11 percent from a year ago and up 15 percent from February.
According to Drovers CattleNetwork, 87 percent—2.19 million head—of cattle and calves on feed in the state were in the Northern High Plains. That number was down 2 percent from 2013 and up 2 percent from the March 1 total.
U.S. feedlots with a capacity of 1,000 head or more totaled 10.9 million head at the first of April.