May 27

5/27 - In Friday’s monthly cattle report, the USDA said feedlot inventories on May 1st were 11.38M head, down 1.5% from a year ago. New placements onto feedlots in April were down 2.6% from a year ago and the fewest in 5 years. On May 11, the USDA (again) shut down the southern border to Mexican cattle imports due to an outbreak of “new world screwworm” disease. The USDA had originally halted imports on 11/25/24, then reopened the border on a limited basis in Feb. Mexico accounted for 4% of our 28M beef cows in 2024 and the import ban has (so far) left the U.S. short roughly 500,000 feeders. In May’s WASDE, the USDA projected a 2.1% decline in beef output for 2025, followed by a 4.8% drop in 2026. USDA projected cattle prices to average $214.51/cwt in 2025 and $223.00 in 2026, up from a previous record-high $187.12/cwt in 2024. Cattle futures closed at $215.80/cwt on Friday (5/23), 17.6% above a year ago.