National Beef Herd Appears To Be Contracting

More signs of a contracting beef herd, courtesy of USDA’s August Cattle on Feed report.  Agriculture Department livestock analyst Anthony Fischer said cattle and calves in feed lots were down 2% year-over-year, while both placements and feed lots and marketings of fed cattle both decreased 6% from 2024’s numbers.

“Placements were on the higher end of expectations and we're entering a time of year seasonally when the inventory of Cattle on Feed is low and that's reflected in the August 1st number, which is the lowest level of 2025 and the lowest August inventory since 2017," Fischer said.

Producers Still Seeing High Prices

With producers, he noted, taking advantage of higher prices in feed lots as they prepare for the fall calf run, adding despite the limited supply of cattle, there's still a strong pull into the feedlots due to the high prices, when it comes to feeder animals.

“We're still seeing strong demand for beef as evidenced by high wholesale beef prices, which is ultimately supporting the fed steer price," Fischer said.  "Prices of fed cattle, they currently sit around $240 to $245 per 100 weight, which is an increase from the start of July and it highlights the low supply of animals on feed.  In terms of the percentage of cattle on feed for more than 150 days, we're seeing that percentage decline seasonally as marketings outpaced placements until the fall calf run. Having said that, the number of cattle on feed more than 150 days is still high, historically, as the pace of marketings and slaughter has slowed a bit.”

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