USDA Cattle on Feed Report Preview

OMAHA (DTN) -- Friday's USDA Cattle on Feed report will again show fewer numbers of cattle on feed and lighter placements, but marketings compared to a year ago are expected to be slightly lower.

The biggest unknown variable about this upcoming report lies in the placement data. With a wide range in analysts' estimates from 90% to 96.9%, the market could very well react bullishly if the data finds itself on the lighter end toward 90%.

But with the live cattle and feeder cattle contracts trading lower this week thanks to outside economic pressures, the real question is this: Will this report affect the market? Cattlemen desperately need something to reinvigorate the cattle market's positive morale, and if placements end up significantly lighter than a year ago, maybe this report could reignite the cattle market's fire.

USDA will release its March 1 Cattle on Feed at 2 p.m. CDT on Friday.

	USDA Actual	Average Estimate	Range
On Feed March 1		95.3%	94.2-96.2%
Placed in February		93.1%	90.0-96.9%
Marketed in February		95.7%	95.0-96.0%

ShayLe Stewart can be reached at ShayLe.Stewart@dtn.com

(c) Copyright 2023 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.