Feedlot populations on April 1 in Alberta and Saskatchewan continued their seasonal monthly decline although the pace of the decline is greater than the 2019-2023 average and last year.
CanFax, a part of the Canada Cattlemen Association, surveys member feedlots monthly in the two provinces for a variety of data points about their operations. The total number of cattle on feed and monthly placement rates are shared with the Livestock Marketing Information Center in Denver for graphing and publication on the LMIC website.
ON-FEED NUMBERS DOWN
As of April 1, the two Canadian provinces had 961,666 head of cattle on feed, down 22,777, or 2.31%, from 984,443 on March 1, down 36,161, or 3.62%, from 997,827 on April 1, 2024, and down 70,536, or 6.83%, or from the 2019-2023 average of 1.032 million.
The US’ April 1 Cattle on Feed report is scheduled for release from the USDA on Thursday, but the March 1 feedlot inventory stood at 11.577 million head, down from 11.716 million a month earlier and down from 11.838 million a year earlier.
Seasonally, the number of cattle in Canadian feedlots declines from the Dec. 1 total. There is a sharp drop in January followed by a gentle, but accelerating decline through the April 1 tally.
From there, the rate of decline begins to accelerate more rapidly to the annual low in the Sep. 1 census, whereupon cattle on feed numbers climb rapidly as feeder cattle come in from seasonally declining and dormant pastures. Freshly weaned calves also tend to go into the feedlots, dry lots or to US winter programs.
MARCH PLACEMENTS DOWN FROM LAST YEAR, AVERAGE
March Canadian feedlot placements were up seasonally from Feb. 1, but were down from March 2024 and from the 2019-2023 average.
March Canadian feedlot placements totaled 137,560 head, up 11,588, or 9.20%, from 125,972 a month earlier but down 9,265, or 6.31%, from 146,825 a year earlier and down 23,815, or 14.8%, from the previous five-year average of 161,375 head.
US February feedlot placements were reported by the USDA at 1.554 million head, down from 1.822 million in January and down from 1.890 million a year earlier.
March Canadian feedlot placements should have been a seasonal high. From there, the seasonal trend is to decline each month into the annual low in July.
From the July low, Canadian feedlot placements rise sharply to the annual high in October. After that, they drop rapidly in November and December, almost tying July’s annual low in December.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers this week ranged from $205.29 per cwt to $205.41, compared with last week’s range of $208.00 to $213.76 per cwt. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $329.84 per cwt to $329.95, compared with $328.43 to $333.61.
The USDA choice cutout Monday was up $1.41 per cwt at $335.63 while select was up $1.89 at $315.85. The choice/select spread narrowed to $19.78 from $20.26 with 65 loads of fabricated product and 16 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA-listed the weighted average wholesale price for fresh 90% lean beef was $381.99 per cwt, and 50% beef was $120.50.
The USDA said basis bids for corn from feeders in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.20 to $1.32 a bushel over the May corn contract, which settled at $4.85, down $0.05 1/4.
No live cattle were tendered for delivery Monday.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Friday was $287.16 per cwt, up $1.03. This compares with Monday’s Apr contract settlement of $288.05, up $2.87.