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On Feed report signals ongoing declines in beef-cow numbers

A livestock economist says there were no major surprises in the USDA’s latest Cattle on Feed report.

But, University of Missouri’s Scott Brown says he is continuing to watch the percentage of heifers placed on feed.  “Thirty-eight and a half percent of cattle on feed were heifers,” he says.  “That certainly, to me, suggests that nobody is holding back heifers to build the herd at this point.  I think it’s good news that we don’t see some expansion on the supply side that we weren’t anticipating.”

Instead, it suggests continued declines in beef-cow inventories.