Cattle Numbers Don’t Meet Expectations

Cattle feedlots in June acquired three percent more head than June of last year, a number lower than many expected including USDA Livestock Analyst Shayle Shagam.

Shagam said the impact could be positive.

“This report will probably have some rather bullish connotations for the futures market.”

There are 3.5 million head of heffers and heffer calves, an increase of five percent from last year.

Shagam said the numbers are surprising because prices had seemed good, there was a lot of grass among other factors.

“There simply may have been a decision by some cow-calf operators to not grow the herd as much as they would have thought earlier in the year.”

Shagam said there is still an pull to expand, but it is just lower than expected.