April Cattle on Feed Points to Higher Placements, but Fewer Heifers

Apr 25, 2025

By Dr. Kenny Burdine

USDA released the April Cattle on Feed report on Thursday April 17^th. The Thursday release was due to the 18^th being Good Friday. Monthly Cattle on Feed reports estimate inventories for feedlots with capacity over 1,000 head, which represents over 80% of total on-feed inventory in the US. As of April 1, total on-feed inventory was estimated at 11.6 million head, which was 1.6% lower than last April. Feedlot inventories have been running below year ago levels since November 2024 and are likely to stay that way for a while as calf crops have been getting smaller.

March marketings were 1% higher than 2024, which was very close to pre-report estimates. The number that garnered the most attention was March placements, which came in 5% higher than last year. While most analysts expected placements to be higher, this was near the upper end of the range of estimates. February placements were very low, partially due to less-than-ideal weather conditions. This may have led to some pushing of feeder cattle movement into March. High price levels also may have also pulled cattle forward, also leading to higher March placements. I tend not to read a lot into any single month and placements for the 1^st quarter of 2025 were down by about 4% from the same three months of 2024.

Friday’s report was also a quarterly cattle on feed report, which included an estimate of the steer / heifer breakdown. With high calf prices and expansion questions looming, this breakdown has been of keen interest for some time. In last week’s report, steers on feed were essentially unchanged from last year, while heifers on feed were down 4%. As a percentage of total on-feed inventory, heifers accounted for 37.6%. This is not a number that suggests widespread heifer retention, but it is worth noting that this is about a percent lower than both April of 2024 and January of 2025.

As we move through spring and into summer, I will be watching pasture conditions very closely. Calf prices are very strong, but no level of profitability can make it rain. Weather will be the primary determinant of whether heifer retention increases during 2025. Beef cow slaughter also bears watching as it has been running well below last year’s levels. And beef cow slaughter was very low in 2024. From my perspective, it appears that liquidation of the cowherd has really slowed down (mostly through reduced cow slaughter). But heifer retention does not appear to be significant enough to suggest we are close to seeing expansion yet. At present, I am expecting beef cow numbers to decrease slightly, or stay about the same, during 2025.

Source : osu.edu

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.