The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released their March Cattle on Feed Report and livestock analyst Michael McConnell provides insights on the current cattle market.
McConnell said, “According to the NASS cattle on feed report for the month of March, as of March 1st in feedlots with a capacity of over a thousand head, there was 11.55 million cattle in those feedlots, which is lower than a year ago. During the month of February, 1.61 million head of cattle were placed in those feedlots, which was four percent higher than and 1.52 million cattle were marketed from those feedlots, which is seven percent lower than a year ago.”
“Overall, our feedlot inventories remain about on par with where they were a year ago. Placements were actually up year over year during February, which that’s the first time that’s happened since March of 2025. Relatively speaking, from a broader perspective, placements are still relatively low by historical standard,” said McConnell.
“It continues the trend of still relatively tight inventories of cattle outside feedlots. One of the responses from the market has been to slow down the pace of steer and heifer slaughter. The number of cattle marketed from feedlots, particularly in the early part of the year, which is typically a seasonally lower period of demand for beef,” said McConnell
Audio Reporting by Dale Sandlin for Southeast AgNet.