Cattle on Feed Report Preview   06/18  17:11

May Placements Expected To Be Down in Friday's June 1 Cattle on 
Feed Report

By ShayLe Stewart
DTN Livestock Analyst

                      USDA Actual   Average Estimate       Range

On Feed June 1                           99.0%        98.1-99.6%
Placed in May                            94.9%        88.0-97.7%
Marketed in May                          90.3%        89.3-95.0%

OMAHA (DTN) -- Friday's June 1 USDA Cattle on Feed report is 
expected to be bullish as, once again, the placement data is 
lighter than a year ago.

The big question that will need to be answered on Friday, 
though, is exactly how many cattle were placed. Between there 
being rumblings that some producers may be keeping heifers back 
for replacements and the undeniable fact that imports from 
Mexico are halted right now, knowing exactly how many cattle 
were placed remains the tricky part of this equation.

However, Friday's report isn't expected to show any wild cards 
and should be seen by the market as bullish.

USDA will release its May 1 Cattle on Feed report at 2 p.m. CDT 
on Friday.

ShayLe Stewart can be reached at ShayLe.Stewart@dtn.com