Cattle and calves on feed for slaughter at U.S. feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 11.6 million head on April 1, down 2 percent from the same time last year, according to USDA Cattle on Feed data released Thursday.
The report showed heifers and heifer calves accounting for 4.38 million head, down 4 percent from 2024, while steers and steer calves were only slightly lower at 7.26 million head. Steers represented 62 percent of the total feedlot inventory.
March placements increased 5 percent year-over-year to 1.84 million head, with cattle weighing 800-899 pounds making up the largest segment at 506,000 head.
Marketings of fed cattle during March totaled 1.73 million head, up 1 percent from last year, while other disappearance fell 4 percent to 55,000 head.
