The U.S. Department of Ag­­riculture (USDA) didn’t issue its monthly cattle on feed report last week due to the partial government shutdown. However, the Livestock Marketing Information Center (LMIC) published its pre-report estimates. The report provided some of the only insight to December feedlot numbers, including inventory, placements and marketings from farms with 1,000 head or more, Meatingplace reported.

The LMIC estimates December marketings were lower than one year ago, based on estimated daily slaughter. Meatingplace notes that the USDA hasn’t re­­leased actual weekly...