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Cattle placements down for the first time in months

The USDA says placements of cattle into feedlots was down in January, the first year over year decline since August 2019. The placements total was 1.967 million head, 1% below January 2019, with most of those placements on cattle weighing less than 800 pounds. That means market ready number cattle supplies could be at least somewhat tighter this summer.

By weight, placements of cattle weighing less than 600 pounds were 390,000 head, 600 to 699 pound placements were 455,000 head, and 700 to 799 pound placements were 535,000 head, while 800 to 899 pound placements were 400,000 head, 900 to 999 pound placements were 105,000 head, and placements of cattle weighing more than 1,000 pounds were 70,000 head.

Marketings during January were 1.931 million head, up 1%, and the total number of cattle on feed on February 1st was 11.928 million head, up 2% on the year.

The numbers were close to pre-report expectations and are expected to generally be neutral for futures prices.

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