February 26

2/26 - In Friday’s cattle report, the USDA said feedlot inventories on Feb 1st were 12.80M head, up 0.4% from a year ago. New placements onto feedlots in Jan were down 7.4%, but higher than expected, given harsh winter weather conditions that slowed cattle operations and transportation. In Jan’s semi-annual cattle inventory report, the USDA pegged all cattle and calves in the U.S. on Jan 1st at 87.16M head, down 1.9% from a year ago - the smallest herd data since the USDA began the survey in 1972, and the lowest according to private estimates going back to 1951. In Jan’s WASDE report, the USDA projected a 2.9% drop in beef production for 2024, coming on top of a 4.7% decline in 2023. CME cattle futures bottomed seasonally at $162.35/cwt on 12/7/23 and have since recovered to $185.60. That’s 12.4% above year-ago levels and quickly approaching the record high of $187.07/cwt set in Sept 2023.