According to the the latest USDA Cattle on Feed report, the number of cattle and calves on feed was up 1 percent over July 1, 2015, and OSU Extension Livestock Market Economist Dr. Derrell Peel says the report came in friendlier than expected.
The inventory included 6.87 million steers and steer calves, down 1 percent from the previous year. This group accounted for 66 percent of the total inventory. Heifers and heifer calves accounted for 3.49 million head, up 5 percent from 2015. Placements in feedlots during June totaled 1.53 million head, 3 percent above 2015. Net placements were 1.46 million head.
Radio Oklahoma Network’s Ron Hays caught up with Peel at the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association Convention in Norman on Saturday after the release of the report Friday afternoon. Peel says feedlot inventories are slowly but surely building, but it’s taking some time because of the increased rate of turnover.
“This continues the trend of year-over-year increases in placements, and that’s going to continue for many more months,” he says. “But at the same time, because we have really got these feedlots much more current and we’re continuing to get them current, we’re in pretty good shape to handle those larger numbers as they come at us in the second half of the year.”
Marketings of fed cattle during June totaled 1.91 million head, 9 percent above 2015. Peel says the industry has really started to rebound after “a heck of a wreck” last fall when cattle prices plummeted.
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