Cattle and calves on feed for slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 10.7 million head on Feb. 1, 2015, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its report last week. The inventory was 1 percent higher than the February 2014 estimate.

There were 660,000 head of cattle and calves on feed in Iowa feedlots with a capacity of 1,000 or more head on Feb. 1, the report said. This was up 20,000 head from Jan. 1, 2015, but unchanged from Feb. 1, 2014.

Placements in U.S. feedlots during January totaled 1.79 million, 11 percent below 2014, the report said. There were 100,000 head placed in Iowa feedlots during...