Cattle on Feed – November 2021

Finished cattle prices have risen sharply over the last year, but cattle feedlot profitability has been eroded by rising feed costs. The finished steer/corn price  ratio currently is about the same as in mid December 2020.   Feeder cattle replacement cost has increased 20% over the last year. As a result feeder cattle placements probably increased only modestly last month. Feedlot marketings increased about 100 thousand head last month. We estimate cattle in feedlots on December 1 was about equal to that of a year ago.