Cattle on Feed Suggests Continued Tight Supplies and Limited Heifer Retention

Jan 30, 2026

By Kenny Burdine

USDA released the January Cattle on Feed report on Friday January 23^rd. These monthly reports estimate on-feed inventories for feedlots with capacity over 1,000 head, which represents more than 80% of total on-feed inventory in the US. As of January 1, total on-feed inventory was estimated at 11.45 million head, which was down over 3% from January 1, 2025. Low domestic cattle inventory, combined with the ban on live cattle imports from Mexico, continue to keep cattle supplies tight. On-feed inventory has been running below year-ago levels since fall of 2024, and this was the largest year-over-year decline since that time.

Placements were the headliner of the report, and this has largely been the case for the last year. The number of cattle placed on feed during December of 2025 was down by more than 5% from December of 2024. This was largely anticipated, and the placement number came in at the upper end of a very wide range of pre-report estimates, but the number is still significant. We were not importing live cattle from Mexico in December of 2024, so the 5% decrease is from a low baseline the previous year. December marketings were up 1.7% year-over-year, which was very close to pre-report estimates. Nebraska continues to be the state with the largest number of cattle on feed, while Texas would be second. This shift has occurred due to the continued ban on cattle imports from Mexico.

Source : osu.edu

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