The new year looks to contrast with last year with noticeably tighter cattle numbers, especially at the feedlot level, driven by previous herd liquidation and sharply lower feeder cattle supplies.
Drought pushed more cattle into feedlots earlier this year and kept feedlot totals higher for longer, but the latest on feed data shows numbers declining.
In general, feeder cattle markets are finishing 2022 strong with momentum going into the new year, even as the drought caused significant changes in the timing of feeder cattle marketing.
Global beef production is forecast to decrease slightly in 2023 and changes in production and consumption will impact global beef exports and imports in the coming year.
Improving feeder futures prices, a stronger fed cattle market and limited supplies of feeder cattle all combined to push prices higher following Thanksgiving.
The combination of effects from the pandemic in 2020 and drought since 2020 has pushed the peak in feedlot numbers and cattle slaughter into 2022, well past the cyclical peak in the calf crop in 2018.
