Cattle and calves on feed for slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 10.1 million head on Oct. 1, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in its cattle on feed report last week.

The U.S. inventory was 1 percent below Oct. 1, 2013. There were 560,000 cattle and calves on feed in Iowa feedlots on Oct. 1, the report said. This was up from 550,000 on Oct. 1, 2013.

Placements in U.S. feedlots during September totaled 2.01 million, 1 percent above 2013. For the month of September, U.S. placements were the second lowest since the series began in 1996. There were 99,000 head placed in Iowa...