US cattle placed on feed marginally higher than expected

Cattle placements in feedlots during February totalled 1.67 million, down 0.8% from a year ago, according to the USDA's monthly Cattle on Feed report.

Industry analysts on average expected placements down 2% from a year ago, according to a Dow Jones survey, leading some analysts to see placements as slightly bearish to late summer cattle futures contracts.

Cattle and calves on feed for slaughter market on March 1 in the US for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totalled 10.9 million head, down 3% from a year ago. Marketings of fed cattle during February totalled 1.72 million, up 2% from 2009.

Overall, the report will help sustain the bullish sentiment in the cattle markets, according to livestock marketing specialist, Derrell Peel. "Tight supply fundamentals, boosted by winter weather, will continue to provide marked support for cattle markets in the weeks and months ahead," he wrote in cattle market report.

J.P. Morgan analyst Ken Goldman saw the report as neutral, given that most of the numbers came in at or around analysts' expectations.