Cattle on Feed

Monthly feedlot inventory, placements and marketings · USDA NASS · September 2026 · released 2026-10-23
On feed
11.37M
−46k−0.4%
NASS · Monthly · y/yOctober 1, 2026
Placements
1.78M
−244k−12.1%
NASS · Monthly · y/ySeptember 2026
Marketings
1.52M
−108k−6.6%
NASS · Monthly · y/ySeptember 2026
On feed vs its history
−1.6%
Derived · vs month avgOctober 1, 2026

Cattle on feed by month

PublishedMonthly · since 1995
Head in feedlots of 1,000 or more capacity on the first of each month. The series is strongly seasonal, which is why the year-ago comparison is the one worth reading; the long view is the useful one.
On feed, 1,000+ head feedlots
10M11M12M201720182019202020212022202320242025202611.37M
Placements against marketings, the same months. Placements are the leading edge of beef supply — those cattle reach the packer roughly five to six months later. The autumn spike is the fall run coming off grass.
PlacementsMarketings
1.0M1.5M2.0M2.5M20172018201920202021202220232024202520261.78M1.52M
Read from NASS's revision views, so every range is real depth back to 1995. What is on feed today is the pipeline between placements and marketings.

This month’s report

PublishedSeptember 2026

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

On feed October 1, 202611,372,000 −0.4% y/y
Placements September 20261,777,000 −12.1% y/y
Marketings September 20261,524,000 −6.6% y/y
On feed a year ago11,418,000
Against the average for this month Derived−1.6% range 11,418,000 – 11,605,000
Placements by weight · which cattle the yards bought. Light placements mean beef further out; heavy placements mean beef sooner. Shares are ours.
< 600 lb−11.1% vs a year ago · 405,000360,00020.3%
600-699−16.1% vs a year ago · 310,000260,00014.6%
700-799−11.5% vs a year ago · 435,000385,00021.7%
800-899−13.2% vs a year ago · 486,000422,00023.7%
900-999−10.5% vs a year ago · 285,000255,00014.4%
≥ 1000 lb−5.0% vs a year ago · 100,00095,0005.3%
All weight bands1,777,000100%
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.
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.

NASS revisions

42 figures changed · last 48 months
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, largest change first.
PeriodMeasureAs first reportedNowRevisionTimes revised
Nov 2022inventory11,706,00011,786,000+80,000 +0.68%6
Dec 2022inventory11,673,00011,738,000+65,000 +0.56%6
Feb 2023inventory11,704,00011,754,000+50,000 +0.43%5
May 2023inventory11,608,00011,654,000+46,000 +0.40%6
Jan 2023inventory11,682,00011,727,000+45,000 +0.39%5
Mar 2023inventory11,645,00011,685,000+40,000 +0.34%6
Jul 2023inventory11,204,00011,243,000+39,000 +0.35%6
Jun 2023inventory11,552,00011,590,000+38,000 +0.33%6
Apr 2023inventory11,612,00011,647,000+35,000 +0.30%6
Aug 2023inventory11,030,00011,064,000+34,000 +0.31%4
“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. The 10 largest of 42 are shown.