New Placements of Cattle on Feedlots Tumble, USDA Says

By Kirk Maltais

The placement of new cattle inventory on U.S. feedlots was less than expected by surveyed analysts, even with those analysts projecting a sizable drop-off in those placements.

In its latest monthly Cattle on Feed Report released Friday, the Agriculture Department said that new placements were down 7.8 percentage points for the month ended June 1 versus the same month last year. Placements totaled 1.89 million head, the USDA said.

Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal this week had forecast placements to fall by 5.1 points.

But lower placements weren't necessarily a complete surprise, with analysts forecasting placements off by as much as 12 points.

Total inventories of cattle on feedlots totaled 11.44 million head, the USDA said. That's down 1.2 points from the same time last year, slightly more than forecast by analysts.

Cattle marketed from feedlots for the month totaled 1.76 million head. That is 10.1 points off from the same timeframe last year, which is a slightly bigger decline than the 9.7 points forecast by analysts.

Livestock futures on the CME finished the day a mixed bag. Live cattle futures closed down 0.9% to $2.09725 a pound, while lean hog futures closed up 0.3% at $1.1235 a pound.

To see related data, search "USDA Monthly Cattle on Feed Data" in Dow Jones NewsPlus.

Write to Kirk Maltais at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

06-20-25 1550ET