August 16, 2012

Due to lower cattle prices, the number of cattle placed in US feedlots dropped in July from a year earlier, but the decline was slowed by drought in the Plains that withered pasture and pushed up feed costs.

While July placements fell from a year ago, when a record number of cattle were sent to feed yards due to a drought in the southern Plains, placements last month were expected to be 18% higher than in June.

The following forecast is for the August cattle-on-feed report, which will be released by the USDA on Friday (Aug 17) at 2 p.m. CDT (1900 GMT).

On average, analysts expected July placements to be down 8.3% from a year earlier at 1.958 million head.

The cattle supply at feedlots as of August 1 was expected to be up 0.7% from a year earlier at 10.653 million head.