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Cattle on Feed

Monthly feedlot inventory, placements and marketings · USDA NASS · June 2026

The report

June 2026 · released 2026-07-24

Cattle on Feed is a supply forecast, not a price. Placements are the cattle that went into feedlots last month — they reach the packer roughly five to six months from now. Marketings are the ones that left. What is on feed today is the pipeline between the two.

Every figure is quoted against the same month a year earlier, because the report is strongly seasonal — comparing it with last month tells you almost nothing.

On feed USDA
11,370,000
▲ 2.2% vs a year ago
Year ago 11,124,000 · July 1, 2026
Placements USDA
1,399,000
▼ 2.9% vs a year ago
Year ago 1,441,000 · June 2026
Marketings USDA
1,661,000
▼ 2.7% vs a year ago
Year ago 1,707,000 · June 2026
Against its own history Derived
+0.7%
versus the average for this month
Range 11,124,000 – 11,455,000
These are feedlots with a capacity of 1,000 head or more — the series the trade quotes. NASS also publishes an all-feedlots count each January and July, currently about two million head higher. The two are different series and are never mixed here.

Placements by weight

June 2026
Which cattle the yards bought. Light placements mean beef further out; heavy placements mean beef sooner.
Weight placedHeadYear agoChangevs year ago
<600 lb325,000320,000+5,000+1.6%
600-699225,000235,000−10,000−4.3%
700-799300,000315,000−15,000−4.8%
800-899309,000326,000−17,000−5.2%
900-999160,000165,000−5,000−3.0%
>=1000 lb80,00080,000+0+0.0%
Weight bands are NASS's own and do not always sum exactly to total placements: each band is rounded independently, and a band is withheld when too few operations report it.

What NASS revised after the fact

47 figures changed
Cattle on Feed numbers move after they are published. The headline gets quoted once and the correction almost never does — so here is every figure that has changed since it first appeared.
PeriodMeasureAs first reportedNowRevisionTimes revised
FIRST OF AUG 2022inventory11,224,00011,339,000+115,000 +1.02%3
FIRST OF SEP 2022inventory11,279,00011,392,000+113,000 +1.00%4
FIRST OF OCT 2022inventory11,454,00011,559,000+105,000 +0.92%4
FIRST OF NOV 2022inventory11,706,00011,786,000+80,000 +0.68%6
FIRST OF DEC 2022inventory11,673,00011,738,000+65,000 +0.56%6
FIRST OF FEB 2023inventory11,704,00011,754,000+50,000 +0.43%5
FIRST OF MAY 2023inventory11,608,00011,654,000+46,000 +0.40%6
FIRST OF JAN 2023inventory11,682,00011,727,000+45,000 +0.39%5
FIRST OF MAR 2023inventory11,645,00011,685,000+40,000 +0.34%6
FIRST OF JUL 2023inventory11,204,00011,243,000+39,000 +0.35%6
FIRST OF JUN 2023inventory11,552,00011,590,000+38,000 +0.33%6
FIRST OF APR 2023inventory11,612,00011,647,000+35,000 +0.30%6
FIRST OF AUG 2023inventory11,030,00011,064,000+34,000 +0.31%4
FIRST OF SEP 2023inventory11,094,00011,127,000+33,000 +0.30%4
FIRST OF NOV 2023inventory11,931,00011,956,000+25,000 +0.21%6
OCT 2022placements2,108,0002,084,000−24,000 −1.14%4
NOV 2022placements1,925,0001,901,000−24,000 −1.25%4
FIRST OF OCT 2023inventory11,580,00011,604,000+24,000 +0.21%4
DEC 2022placements1,804,0001,784,000−20,000 −1.11%4
OCT 2024placements2,286,0002,266,000−20,000 −0.87%4
FIRST OF NOV 2024inventory11,986,00011,966,000−20,000 −0.17%6
FEB 2023placements1,734,0001,723,000−11,000 −0.63%4
APR 2023placements1,748,0001,758,000+10,000 +0.57%4
JUL 2023placements1,618,0001,608,000−10,000 −0.62%4
FIRST OF DEC 2023inventory12,006,00012,016,000+10,000 +0.08%5
SEP 2023placements2,206,0002,198,000−8,000 −0.36%2
MAY 2023placements1,955,0001,962,000+7,000 +0.36%4
DEC 2023placements1,704,0001,698,000−6,000 −0.35%3
OCT 2023placements2,164,0002,170,000+6,000 +0.28%4
MAR 2024placements1,746,0001,752,000+6,000 +0.34%4
FIRST OF APR 2024inventory11,821,00011,826,000+5,000 +0.04%6
FIRST OF FEB 2026inventory11,505,00011,510,000+5,000 +0.04%2
JAN 2026placements1,736,0001,741,000+5,000 +0.29%1
JAN 2023placements1,932,0001,936,000+4,000 +0.21%3
NOV 2023placements1,868,0001,865,000−3,000 −0.16%4
SEP 2022placements2,085,0002,082,000−3,000 −0.14%2
MAR 2026marketings1,632,0001,634,000+2,000 +0.12%1
MAR 2025placements1,841,0001,843,000+2,000 +0.11%3
AUG 2022placements2,112,0002,111,000−1,000 −0.05%2
JUN 2023placements1,678,0001,679,000+1,000 +0.06%4
AUG 2024placements1,975,0001,976,000+1,000 +0.05%2
JAN 2024placements1,792,0001,791,000−1,000 −0.06%3
DEC 2025placements1,554,0001,555,000+1,000 +0.06%1
MAY 2025placements1,886,0001,887,000+1,000 +0.05%2
NOV 2025placements1,595,0001,594,000−1,000 −0.06%2
OCT 2025placements2,039,0002,040,000+1,000 +0.05%2
FIRST OF JUN 2025inventory11,442,00011,443,000+1,000 +0.01%3
“As first reported” is the value NASS put out when the month was first published; “now” is where it stands today. A revision is not an error — NASS updates as late reports arrive — but a placements figure restated by twenty thousand head changes the supply picture the original print set, and no one reissues the headline. Sorted by the size of the change.

On feed, month by month

Since 1995
Jul 2016 – Jul 2026 · 121 months
10.0M10.5M11.0M11.5M12.0M12.5M20162017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Hover any month for the head count and how it compared with the same month a year earlier. The series is strongly seasonal, which is why the year-ago comparison is the one worth reading. The series runs back to 1995.

Placements, month by month

Since 1995
Jun 2016 – Jun 2026 · 121 months
1.3M1.5M1.8M2.0M2.3M2.5M20162017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Placements are the leading edge of beef supply — these cattle reach the packer roughly five to six months later. The autumn spike each year is the fall run of calves coming off grass.

About this page

Source: USDA NASS Cattle on Feed. Figures are national, for feedlots of 1,000 head capacity or more. Figures marked USDA are as reported; Derived marks our arithmetic, with the method stated beside it. Related: fed cattle for what those cattle bring when they leave the yard, and cull cows and bulls. This site is not affiliated with, nor endorsed by, the USDA.