May 26

5/26 – In Friday’s monthly cattle report, the USDA said feedlot inventories on May 1st were 11.58M head, up 1.8% from a year ago. New placements onto feedlots in April were 5.5% above last year. Unfortunately, the reason for the increase was ranchers moving feeders off pasture and onto feedlots due to drought. Cattle marketings for April were down 10.0%, possibly indicating softening demand in the face of high prices. In last week’s Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Outlook, the USDA reduced projected 2026 U.S. beef production by 243M pounds and said that total beef output would decline by 0.9% in 2026, following a 3.6% decline in 2025. On a positive note, beef imports – mostly 90s lean trimmings - look to be up by 11.7% in 2026, following an 18.0% jump in 2025. In its first look at 2027, the USDA projects cattle prices to again be record high at $253.75/cwt, up from a projected $249.66 in 2026, and $224.37 in 2025.