Analysts polled ahead of the upcoming USDA ‘Cattle on Feed’ report expect the total inventory in feedlots with +1000 head capacity to be 0.7% lower than the previous year. Interestingly, the inventory on August 1 was down 1.9% from a year ago and on September 1 it was 1.4% lower than a year ago.
As the analyst responses summarized to the right suggest, this inventory situation reflects a slower processing rate as well as robust placements in the last three months. If analysts are correct, the upcoming survey is also expected to show still relatively large supplies of market ready cattle, with the inventory of +150 day cattle at 2.257 million head, up 13.5% from last year and the inventory of +120 day cattle at 4.1 million head, 3.2% higher than a year ago.
