by Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University

The latest USDA Cattle on Feed  report pegs April 1 feedlot inventories at 11.638 million head, down 1.6% year over year. The 12-month moving average of feedlot inventories is 11.586 million head, the lowest average level since November 2023. March feedlot marketings were 1.725 million head, up 1.1% year over year. Marketings in the first quarter of the year are down 2.2% compared to one year ago. Placements in March were up 5.1% from a year ago, but are down 4.0% year over year in the first three months of 2025.

In the current cattle cycle, feedlot inventories peaked in 2022. The April 1 feedlot inventory was down 4.6% compared to April 1, 2022. The top six cattle-feeding states in April 2022 (Texas, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Iowa and California) accounted for 85.6% of the total feedlot inventory. Those same top six states currently account for 84.1% of the total feedlot inventory. Since April 2022, feedlot inventory in Texas has decreased by 9.5%; Nebraska, down 2.3%; Kansas, down 6.8%; Colorado, down 9.1%; and California, down 11.5%. Among the top six states, only Iowa currently has a larger feedlot inventory, up 4.6%, since April 2022.

Among the top six states, only Iowa currently has a larger feedlot inventory, up 4.6% since April 2022. This may be the first solid evidence that some heifer retention is beginning.

The April report also contained the quarterly inventory of steers and heifers on feed. Heifers on feed were 4.38 million head, down 3.9% from a year ago and down 4.3% from January. Heifers on feed are currently at 4.38 million head, 37.6% of the total on-feed inventory, the lowest quarterly total since July of 2021 and the lowest percentage since April 2020. The heifer percentage has averaged more than 39% for the past 16 quarters.