February 24

2/24 - In Friday’s cattle report, the USDA said feedlot inventories on Feb 1st were 11.72M head, down 0.7% from a year ago. The U.S. imported 1.2M head of feeder cattle from Mexico last year before imports were halted on Nov 25, 2024, due to the “new world screwworm” disease. Mexico accounted for 4% of our 28M beef cows in 2024. Imports from Mexico are expected to resume on a limited basis this week. However, the 3 month stoppage has left the U.S. short 300,000+ feeders. In Feb’s WASDE, the USDA said beef output was up 0.1% in 2024. That’s remarkable given the USDA’s mid-year forecast for a 4.8% production decline. Cheap feed prices helped producers grow cattle to higher weights to compensate for declining herd numbers. However, the USDA is still projecting a 1.6% decline in beef output for 2025 – and for cattle prices to average $201.00/cwt in 2025, up from an already record-high $187.12/cwt in 2024.