SD-CROP-LIVESTOCK

NEWS RELEASE
United States Department of Agriculture
National Agricultural Statistics Service
South Dakota Field Office ? Sioux Falls, SD

Media contact:  South Dakota Office, 605/323-6500
Email:  nass-sd@nass.usda.gov



CATTLE ON FEED INVENTORY AT THE SAME LEVEL AS MARCH



SIOUX FALLS, April 21, 2006 -- South Dakota’s 1,000+ capacity feedlots reported 210,000 cattle on feed for the slaughter market on April 1, according to the South Dakota office of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.  The April 1 number is up 5,000 from a year earlier but unchanged from March.

Placements during March totaled 36,000 head, up 5,000 head from last year and up 3,000 head from February. 

Marketings of fed cattle during March totaled 35,000 head, up 1,000 head from last year and up 6,000 head from February.

Other disappearance during March totaled 1,000 head, down 1,000 from last year and down 3,000 from last month.

Steer and steer calves totaled 115,000 head, 54.8 percent of the total cattle on feed.  Heifer and heifer calves totaled 79,000 head, 37.6 percent of the total cattle on feed.  Bulls and cows totaled 16,000 head, 7.6 percent of the total cattle on feed.

Access this complete report at:
http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/reports/nassr/livestock/pct-bbc/2006/cofd0406.pdf