"Neutral" is the one word to describe last Friday's Cattle on Feed report, according to Tom Leffler of Leffler Commodities as the numbers came in very close to what the trade was looking for.
The June first came in at 98 percent, the trade was looking for 98.6 percent. This means 10.594 million head of cattle are on feed. That's 2.9 percent below the three year average. Nebraska was up three percent over a year ago, Kansas down two percent and Texas was down three percent.
"This is the lowest June on feed number we had for the past four years," Leffler said. "This is also the second smallest on feed number for this year of 2014."
May placements came in 93 percent. The trade was looking for 93.2 percent. This means 1.912 million head of cattle were placed on feed. This 3.6 percent lower than the three year average. This is also the second smallest May placement of the past five years and second smallest placement for the year of 2014. Nebraska placements were down 10 percent, Kansas was up one percent and Texas was up two percent versus a year ago.
When you look at the weight breakdown of placements, Leffer says the under 600 pound group was up 10.1 percent, 600 - 699 pound group down 6.5 percent, 700 - 799 pound group was down 14.1 percent and the 800 plus pound group was down 10.7 percent versus a year ago.
"The Placements for the first five months of 2014 are 9.035 million head, which is the second largest of the past seven years for the first five months of the year," Leffler said. "This does not exactly equal the extreme tight feeder supplies some are indicating out there."
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