August 27, 2014

US reports record low cattle marketings, placements in July

In its monthly Cattle on Feed report released last Friday, USDA said that fed cattle marketings in July were down 9.2% on-year to 1.787 million head, the smallest for the month since data series began in 1996.

USDA added that July's cattle placements, at 1.56 million head, were also the smallest figure since 1996 and 7.4% lower than last year.

Regionally, Northern Plains cattle feeding states placed more cattle on feed, while Southern Plains states placed fewer head. Placements in Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, and Minnesota rose 1.4%, 16.7%, 5.3%, and 11.1%, respectively; while placements in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas fell 8.9%, 28.9%, and 5.9%, respectively.

During July, cattle feeders placed 425,000 head of calves weighing less than 600 pounds, an increase of 9% on-year. However, placements of 600-699 pound, 700-799 pound, and 800-plus pound feeder cattle dropped by 3.7%, 20.2%, and 10.2%, respectively.

With the decrease in placements and marketings, August's cattle on feed fell 1.9% to 9.837 million head, the smallest August 1 figure since 2009.