Few surprises were found in the latest cattle on feed report. Market Analyst Tom Leffler of Leffler Commodities said the report came in very close to pre-report estimates. The number of cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 10.7 million head on February 1, 2016. The inventory was slightly below February 1, 2015 and 4.1 percent below the five year average. Nebraska was down two percent, Texas was down two percent, but Kansas was up two percent versus a year ago.
“This is the third straight month of being lower than previous year on our on feed numbers and this is the sixth lowest February on feed number of the past 21 years,” Leffler said.
Placements in feedlots during January totaled 1.78 million head, one percent below 2015. That was 5.5 percent lower than the five year average. Leffler said this was the 14th time in the past 16 straight months that placements were lower than the previous year. This was the fifth lowest January placement figure of the last 21 years. Texas was down four percent, Nebraska was down three percent and Kansas was up one percent versus a year ago.
Net placements were 1.72 million head. During January, placements of cattle and calves weighing less than 600 pounds were 340,000 head, down 17.1 percent versus a year ago, 600-699 pounds were 365,000 head, that was up 7.1 percent, 700-799 pounds were 494,000 head, up 4.2 percent and 800 pounds and greater were 580,000 head, up 2.7 percent versus a year ago.
Marketings of fed cattle during January totaled 1.59 million head, two percent below 2015. Marketings were the lowest for January since the series began in 1996.
Other disappearance totaled 56,000 head during January, 27 percent below 2015. Other disappearance was the lowest for January since the series began in 1996.
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