Friday’s Cattle on Feed report was mostly friendly. On May 1, there were 11.8 million head in feedlots, just two percent above one year ago. This is the highest May 1 inventory since the series began in 1996. There were more than 1.8 million placements in feedlots for April. That’s nine percent above one year ago. USDA livestock analyst Shayle Shagam explains the April placement number. “There was a fairly wide range in trader’s expectations before the report,” he says. “The placement is not unusual, because a number of cattle on winter wheat pasture were probably put on feed in April.” Marketing of fed cattle in April was 1.93 million head, an increase of eight percent from one year ago.
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