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Economist says the percentage of heifers on feed is a number to watch

An ag economist says he’s looking for any signs of expansion to the cattle herd.

University of Tennessee’s Charley Martinez says the percentage of heifers on feed could be one of the most important data points to come out of this week’s report. “That gives us some type of indication of herd demographics,” he says. 

The USDA only releases the percentage of heifers on feed at the end of each quarter.

He tells Brownfield that having a full quarter of information from the USDA helps better shape the cattle outlook for the remainder of the year. “If you look at the past couple of reports, we’re really starting to deviate from what we saw in 2024 in terms of just total inventory,” he says.  “I want to see if that holds true because this will be the second, third year of just real big culling and liquidation.”

Martinez says some pre-report guesses have placements down about 2 percent from year-ago levels.

The report comes out at 3pm ET, 2pm Central.