Market News & Headlines >> July Cattle Inventory Report Suspended

USDA is again suspending the July edition of its Cattle Inventory report due to budgetary constraints, the National Agricultural Statistics Service announced on its website on Friday. The July inventory report was previously dropped in 2013 when automatic spending cuts eliminated some $1.9 billion in USDA funding. 

“The decision to suspend this report was not made lightly, but was necessary, given our available fiscal and program resources," NASS said. The inventory of U.S. cattle and calves is normally issued twice a year. It was last released in January and was next due on July 22. NASS said the U.S. and Canadian Cattle report scheduled for Aug. 23 has also been suspended. 

While the Cattle Inventory report rarely gets a significant reaction from the cattle futures market, the suspension of the report is rather ill timed with expansion of the U.S. cattle herd underway again. The report would have provided the first reading on the size of the January-June calf crop, which is likely to be up substantially this year.