Month after month this year, feedlots have maintained large numbers of cattle on feed relative to history as more calves are being pushed into feedlots at a quicker-than-normal pace due to the drought impact on forage availability.

Aided and abetted by the drought, feedlots put together another month of large placements in July.

Fewer than 80,000 head of feeder cattle were price protected in the year before the 2020 overhaul of the Livestock Risk Protection (LRP) program. This year, on an annualized basis, approximately 4.5 million head of feeder cattle LRP will be purchased.

At the close of the year’s second quarter, beef cattle producers continue to cull a large portion of their breeding herds, as shown in Figure 1 of weekly volumes of federally inspected beef cow slaughter for the previous three years.