Cattle On Feed Down Slightly To Start March

When looking at USDA’s March Cattle of Feed report was there additional tightening of the nation's cattle supplies?

“Overall, our feedlot inventories remain about on par with where they were a year ago," said USDA Livestock analyst Michael McConnell.  "Placements were actually up year over year during February, which that's the first time that's happened since March of 2025.”

Although McConnell noted that was with impacts from bans on cattle imports from Mexico due to New World screwworm took effect.

“Relatively speaking, from a broader perspective, placements are still relatively low by historical standard," he said," [and] it continues the trend of still relatively tight inventories of cattle outside feedlots.” 

McConnell added cattle marketings were also light due to high cattle prices, impacting margins for packers.

“One of the responses from the market has been to slow down the pace of steer and heifer slaughter, the number of cattle marketed from feedlots, particularly in the early part of the year, which is typically a seasonally lower period of demand for beef.”

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