By DTN Staff

This article was originally published at 2:03 p.m. CDT on Friday, May 23. It was last updated with additional information at 3:23 p.m. CDT on Friday, May 23.

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OMAHA (DTN) -- Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 11.4 million head on May 1, 2025. The inventory was 2% below May 1, 2024, USDA NASS reported on Friday.

Placements in feedlots during April totaled 1.61 million head, 3% below 2024. Net placements were 1.56 million head. During April, placements of cattle and calves weighing less than 600 pounds were 310,000 head, 600-699 pounds were 225,000 head, 700-799 pounds were 370,000 head, 800-899 pounds were 443,000 head, 900-999 pounds were 195,000 head, and 1,000 pounds and greater were 70,000 head.

Marketings of fed cattle during April totaled 1.83 million head, 3% below 2024.

Other disappearance totaled 50,000 head during April, 11% below 2024.

DTN ANALYSIS

"Pre-report estimates nearly pinned Friday's USDA Cattle on Feed report perfectly, and it's likely that on Tuesday when the market opens following the long Memorial Day weekend, traders will find the report to be bullish," said DTN Livestock Analyst ShayLe Stewart.

"The biggest takeaway from Friday's report, however, is the placement data," Stewart said. "With placements in April 2025 only totaling 1.613 million head, that's the lightest monthly placement data the industry has seen since April 2020 when placements were vastly disturbed by the COVID outbreak. And when looking back further in the data, beyond the market's disruption in 2020, the last time a single month has seen placements below 1.6 million head was back in January 2015.

"There were only two states that saw greater placements than compared to a year ago: Kansas (up 3%) and Oklahoma (up 2%). Otherwise, every single major feeding state saw a year-over-year decline. And in terms of cattle placed by weights, every weight group saw a year-over-year decline.

"Needless to say, the data is clear: There were starkly fewer cattle placed this past month because of the limited number of feeder cattle and because of reduced imports from Mexico."

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DTN subscribers can view the full Cattle on Feed reports in the Livestock Archives folder under the Markets menu. The report is also available at https://www.nass.usda.gov/….

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