News

More placements now will be helpful to producers later

According to the latest USDA report, cattle placements during February were up 2 percent on the year.

Livestock economist David Anderson says those numbers were well outside of pre-report estimates. But, he says placing cattle now can provide some benefit to producers – both now and later in the year.  “Sooner or later when they want to start selling, there’s a lot more cattle to be sold to go on feed,” he says.  “If we had delayed that – come Fall we would have had much larger supplies of Cattle on Feed when late-Summer is typically the low point of the year for prices.”

He tells Brownfield both steer and heifer dressed weights are down on the year and are helping support a Spring rally.  “That’s really contributing to some tighter supplies,” he says.  “Those are pulling down production from where they would have been.”

The total Cattle on Feed in March was 11.8 million head, which was up 1 percent on the year.

AUDIO: David Anderson, Texas A&M