Friday’s USDA July 1 Cattle on Feed report isn’t expected to unveil anything wild in terms of the typical three categories — on feed numbers, placements and total number of cattle marketed.
But ShayLe Steward of DTN says what cattlemen and traders alike will be quickly searching for when the report comes out is the quarterly data on how many heifers are on feed. It’s hard pinpointing what producers are doing in terms of herd build-back, but if the total number of heifers on feed is less than roughly 37% — then it’s fair to ask the question if some light herd retention has started.
And aside from the data that the Cattle on Feed report yields, cattlemen and traders alike will also be looking at the mid-year inventory report to cross-reference the data and see what the state of the beef cow herd is.
USDA will release its July 1 Cattle on Feed and biannual Cattle inventory reports at 2 p.m. CDT on Friday. Ron Hays is expected to talk to OSU’s Dr. Derrell Peel later today, so we will have those numbers for you here.
