Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 11.4 million head on Oct. 1, 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported last week. The inventory was 5 percent above a year earlier. It was the highest Oct. 1 inventory since the series began in 1996.

There were 690,000 head of cattle on feed in Iowa feedlots with a capacity of 1,000 or more head on Oct. 1, up 6 percent ...