December Cattle on Feed
December 1 Cattle on Feed increased 3% over a year ago and reached over 12 million head for the first time since May of 2022. Cattle on feed over 120 days cleaned up a bit and dipped down below 4 million head. Placements into feedlots were down 1.9% in November, but marketings were down 7.4%. While this is in-line with industry expectations, the lower marketings is causing an odd build-up of cattle on feed in a contractionary phase of the cattle cycle.
This has allowed negotiated prices to come down substantially from summer highs and heading into 2024 are around $170 per cwt. LMIC believes this lower price point will be short-lived, but much of the uncertainty will be tied to wholesale beef market movement in the next 60 to 90 days.
Placement weight groups showed no real surprises. Of more interest was the larger cattle feeding states of Texas and Kansas. Texas placed cattle at a rate 5% higher than a year ago while Kansas feedlots took on 8% less. Nebraska saw 3% smaller placements while Colorado was up 7%. The net result across all four states, though was only a 20-thousand head difference from last year but about half the total difference of placements across the U.S.
