Livestock Marketing Information Center

CATTLE ON FEED

Heading into the June Cattle on Feed report, the average trade expectation was for a slight decrease in the total on feed, with no analyst expecting an increase. Marketings were expected to be unchanged from last year. Placements were expected to be lower, with little consensus about the level. After the markets closed last Friday the report came out showing the on-feed total at 11.6 million head, unchanged from a year ago. Overall, this is bearish news for nearby cattle contracts and bullish news for deferred months.

In The Cattle Markets (PDF)

Current Situation and Analysis
Updated: 6/21/2024

WEAN-TO-FINISH HOG RETURNS

Iowa State University’s estimated returns for a wean-to-finish hog operation posted a profit of $21.95 per head in May, a significant improvement over the $40.04 per head loss a year ago. In May, total costs were $168.60 per head, a decline of 18% from last year. The selling price of $91.87 per cwt in May was a 17% increase over last year and a key factor to the better returns. The lower total costs and higher selling price resulted in a breakeven selling price of $83.26 per cwt in May.

CATTLE ON FEED

USDA NASS reported that cattle on feed as of June 1 was 11.554 million head, down by less than one percent from a year ago. Analysts’ pre-report estimates were expecting cattle on feed to be down from last year, on average, by 1.1% with a range of estimates from down 1.7% to down 0.6%. Fed cattle marketings in May came in at 1.955 million head, a marginal increase of less than one percent from the previous year. Pre-report estimates were on either side of a year ago ranging from down 0.7% to up 1.2% with an average of up 0.3%, which was slightly higher than the actual.

POULTRY AND HPAI UPDATE

Cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza continue to occur across the U.S. Since the start of the year, USDA APHIS has reported nearly 17.5 million birds affected by HPAI, based on data compiled at the time of this writing. A majority (85%) of the cases reported this year have been commercial table egg layers, which was just over 14.8 million birds affected. Most of these cases occurred in April and May across five states: California (0.8 million), Iowa (4.3 million), Michigan (6.5 million), Minnesota (1.4 million), and Texas (1.9 million). Egg prices (combined regional, grade A large) have turned higher in recent weeks, and last week’s price was $2.56 per dozen, more than double the same week last year and the highest price since February.