By DTN Staff

This article was originally published at 2:03 p.m. CDT on Friday, March 20. It was last updated with additional information at 3:47 p.m. CDT on Friday, March 20.

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OMAHA (DTN) -- Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with a capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 11.5 million head on March 1, 2026. The inventory was slightly below March 1, 2025, USDA NASS reported on Friday.

Placements in feedlots during February totaled 1.61 million head, 4% above 2025. Net placements were 1.56 million head. During February, placements of cattle and calves weighing less than 600 pounds were 305,000 head, 600-699 pounds were 280,000 head, 700-799 pounds were 445,000 head, 800-899 pounds were 396,000 head, 900-999 pounds were 130,000 head, and 1,000 pounds and greater were 55,000 head, according to NASS.

Marketings of fed cattle during February totaled 1.52 million head, 7% below 2025. Marketings were the second lowest for February since the series began in 1996, according to NASS.

Other disappearance totaled 50,000 head during February, 17% below 2025.

DTN ANALYSIS

"We knew that there was a chance that Friday's Cattle on Feed report could be a doozey, and it proved to be exactly that, with placements being marked 4% higher in February than what they were just a year ago," said DTN Livestock Analyst ShayLe Stewart.

"That logically begs the first natural question: Where did the industry see the biggest jump in placements?" Stewart said. "What could be most interesting to note is that out of all the states listed, the only states that didn't see a greater number of cattle placed compared to a year ago were Colorado and Nebraska. Every other state saw an uptick in placements compared to a year ago. That is quite the industry trend.

"But to highlight the biggest feeding states, placements were up 11% in Iowa, up 11% in Kansas, up 11% in Oklahoma, up 3% in South Dakota, and up 8% in Texas.

"The other note from Friday's report that needs highlighting is that the total number of cattle on feed totaled 11.5 million head -- merely steady with a year ago. Given that everyone knows that cattle are spending more time on feed than they did in years past, which consequently affects how fast feedlot managers turn over cattle, this is now starting to show up in the Cattle on Feed data, as the industry has plenty of market-ready cattle.

"In conclusion, it's likely that Friday's report will be absorbed as bearish, as the actual data came in heavier than what the pre-report estimates speculated. But it's also important to remember that in February 2025, placements were down 18% compared to February of 2024. So, while the industry will likely just read Friday's report and note the 4% uptick in placements and gasp, we must take extra time to look back at the previous data and see what we are comparing to. Numbers don't mean anything without context."

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DTN subscribers can view the full Cattle on Feed reports in the Livestock Archives folder under the Markets menu. The report is also available at https://www.nass.usda.gov/….

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