USDA: Feedlot Numbers Very High To Start 2022
There were a lot of cattle in feedlots the New Year started. USDA reporting that on January 1st inventory was 12 million head, that will be up 1% from January 2021. "...and would be the second highest inventory number for the month since the survey began in 1996," noted USDA livestock analyst, Shayle Shagam.
Big inventory numbers because placements in feedlots in December the highest in at least 26 years and up a surprisingly high 6% from December a year ago. Both encouraging more placements, however, Shagam said for all this year, as far as beef production, he anticipates that figure to be lower in 2022. One clue pointing that way; the number of heifers in feed lots January 1st, up 2%; heifers also up as a percentage of the total inventory.
"It could be taken as a sign that producers who might normally have retained some heifers for the breeding herd may have been putting them in feeding lots instead.".
Shagam added the industry willl get a better picture January 31st with USDA's Big Cattle Inventory Report.
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