Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 10.8 million head on March 1. The inventory was slightly above March 1, 2016, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in its report last week.

There were 650,000 head of cattle in Iowa feedlots with a capacity of 1,000 or more head as of March 1, the USDA said. This was up 3 percent from 2016.

Placements in U.S. feedlots during February totaled 1.69 million head, 1 percent below 2016, a signal that expansion may be slowing, University of Missouri ag economist Scott Brown said in an ...