Cattle and calves on feed for slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 9.9 million head on Sept. 1, 2013, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) cattle on feed report said last week.

The inventory was 7 percent below Sept. 1, 2012. There were 550,000 head of cattle on...