Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 10.6 million head on Jan. 1, slightly above Jan. 1, 2016.

The U.S. inventory was within analysts’ expectations, according to Urner Barry analysts.

There were 600,000 head of cattle on feed in Iowa feedlots with a capacity of 1,000 or more head as of Jan. 1, the USDA said in its report last week. That was down 3 percent from Jan. 1, 2016, the report said.

Placements in U.S. feedlots during December totaled 1.8 million head, 18 percent above 2015,...