Market News & Headlines >> October Feedlot Placements Seen Down Slightly From 2017

The livestock trade expects Wednesday’s monthly USDA Cattle-on-Feed report to show that the U.S. feedlot inventory on Nov. 1 remained more than 4% larger than a year earlier despite slightly smaller October placements of cattle on feed. 

Trade estimates of the Nov. 1 feedlot inventory average 104.4% of a year earlier in a range from 103.3%-105.6% according to 11 analysts surveyed by Reuters News Service. If the feedlot inventory comes in at the average of trade estimates it would total 11.828 million head, 496,000 head above a year earlier and would be the largest for the date since 2006. 

Pre-report estimates of October feedlot placements average 99.1% of a year earlier in a range from 94.0%-104.3% of a year earlier. At the average of trade estimates, October placements would equal 2.371 million head, 22,000 head below a year earlier and would still be 2.2% above the five-year average for the month. 

Trade expectations for October feedlot marketings average 104.2% of a year earlier in a range from 103.2%-104.9%.  Marketings are expected to be up from last year largely because October held one more marketing day this year than in 2017. At the average of trade expectations, October feedlot marketings would run 1.876 million head, 75,000 above a year earlier and would be the largest in 11 years.