Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the U.S., for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled, 11.2 million head on May 1, 2020. The inventory was 5% below May 1, 2019, according to the monthly Cattle on Feed report from USDA.

In Iowa, the decline was even more dramatic, with inventory moving down 9% from a year ago to 620,000 head on feed.

Placements in feedlots, nationwide, during April totaled 1.43 million head, 22% below 2019....