Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 11.1 million head on Aug 1, 2018, up 5 percent from Aug. 1, 2017, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in its report last week. This is the highest Aug. 1 inventory since the series began in 1996, the USDA noted.

Placements in U.S. feedlots during July totaled 1.74 million head, 8 percent above 2017, the USDA reported. There were 66,000 head of cattle placed in Iowa...