Feedyard cattle inventory increases and placements drop

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) February Cattle on Feed report, feedyard inventories as of Feb. 1 totaled 10.7 million head, up less than one percent from a year earlier, reports Drovers CattleNetwork.

Placements of cattle into feedlots during January totaled 1.79 million head, an 11 percent decline from those during January 2014.

Feedlots in January placed more cattle than they marketed. January marketings of fed cattle totaled 1.63 million, 9 percent below 2014. That total was the lowest for the month since the series began in 1996.

As of Jan. 1, cattle and calves on feed in feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head represented 81.6 percent of all cattle and calves on feed in the United States, up from 81.3 on January 1, 2014.

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