Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the U.S. for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head was at 11.7 million head on November 1, 2018. That is three percent above November 1, 2017. Placements in feedlots during October were at 2.25 million head, six percent below 2017, while marketing’s of fed cattle during October totaled 1.89 million head, five percent above 2017. And according to a story from Gary Crawford, feedlot placements during October were lower than many had expected