June marketings, however, were down nearly 8%, more than the 5% analysts expected. ‘Feedlot marketings should remain at a slower pace for most of the balance of the year, while placements could increase seasonally in the fall as summer grazing cattle are marketed in the third quarter’, wrote Oklahoma State University Livestock Marketing Specialist Derrell Peel in an analysis of the USDA reports.
The biggest surprise came in USDA's mid-year Cattle Inventory report, which showed heifers being held for beef cow replacements at 4.67 million head, down just 2% from a year ago. Livestock analysts were expecting the decline to be twice that, at about 4%.
‘The most bearish long-term number in either report is the number of heifers being held for beef cow replacements’, wrote analysts Steve Meyer and Len Steiner in the CME Group's Daily Livestock Report. ‘This means that US cow calf operations may have sold some cows but they plan to replace more of them more quickly. The increase also means that the supply of 'other' heifers available for feeding will be equal to that of 2007 instead of the expected drop of 1.5%.’
Source: meatingplace.com
