Placements Ten Percent Below August ’24

The placements figure in Friday’s USDA Cattle-on-Feed report is considered bullish. During August, only 1.78 million head were placed in feedlots. That’s ten percent below 2024 and one percent below the average trade guess. The total cattle inventory is down less than one percent from September 2024. Marketings are 14 percent below a year ago. The marketings total for August was the lowest since this series of reports began in 1996.