October 28

10/28 - In Friday’s monthly cattle report, the USDA said feedlot inventories on Oct 1st were 11.6M head, unchanged from a year ago. New placements onto feedlots in Sept (down 1.9%) declined for the 2nd straight month, offsetting a 5.8% year-over-year increase in July. While supplies are adequate for current needs, the future is questionable. The percentage of heifers on feedlots, and not being held back for breeding, was 39.7% on Oct 1 - even higher than the 39.6% recorded on July 1. With cattle numbers projected to be record low in 2025, there are still no signs of herd expansion. Mexican feeder cattle imports, up 16.6% year-to-date, are helping maintain U.S. inventories. In Oct’s WASDE, the USDA projected beef output to increase by a slim 0.1% in 2024 and decline by 4.0% in 2025. The USDA says cattle prices will be record-high $186.18/cwt in 2024, and then edge even higher to $187.00/cwt in 2025.