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Economist says placements key area to watch in Friday’s On Feed numbers

A livestock economist says there’s still room for cattle prices to move higher. 

University of Missouri professor emeritus Scott Brown says he’s looking ahead to this month’s Cattle on Feed report and continues to monitor cattle placed into feedyards. “We’ve all been waiting for this cliff to drop in cattle placement numbers,” he says.  “And it just hasn’t come. I think that’s at play.”

He tells Brownfield there isn’t consensus about where placements are headed.  “I hear some out there suggesting we’ve gotten a lot tighter on available supplies of feeder cattle to place,” he says.  “Does that translate in the numbers that we see?”

Brown says he’s also still looking for signs of widespread herd expansion. “Beef cow slaughter will continue to be what we have to work with in terms of beef cow inventory for January 1,” he says. 

Livestock slaughter data comes out on Thursday afternoon, and cattle on feed numbers are out on Friday afternoon.