The U.S. cattle herd was down 2% at the start of the month compared to a year ago in feedlots of 1,000 or more head, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported last week in its monthly Cattle on Feed report.

The U.S. cattle herd stood at 11.7 million head on Nov. 1, down from 11.95 million head on Nov. 1, 2021. In Iowa, cattle producers continued to grow their herds in October, bring the headcount to 620,000 as of Nov. 1. This was ...