Feeder Cattle and Fat Cattle Scatters

Our calculations suggest a feeder cattle supply on April 1 of 20.2 million head compared to 19.7 million head a year ago. Historically the feeder cattle supply has proved a useful barometer of feeder prices in the May July period. The last August feeder quotes on Friday (4/24/20) were very close to the line expected from the 2000  through 2019 experience. 

The dominant force in the feeder cattle market is always the price of finished cattle. We have also provided a finished cattle – feeder cattle supply scatter which has the August finished cattle’s most recent quote below the 2000 through 2019 function.