UNITED STATES-DEMAND FOR FEEDLOT CATTLE.
U.S. feedlots probably increased purchases of young cattle in March as pastures in the southern Great Plains deteriorated after months of drought, leaving little grass for animals to graze.
Purchases probably rose 3.8 percent to 1.801 million head from 1.736 million in March 2008, according to the average estimate of 10 analysts in a Bloomberg News survey. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will release its monthly report on the feedlot herd at 3 p.m. April 17 in Washington .
Parts of Texas , the largest cattle-producing state, received as little as 16 percent of normal rainfall over the past three months, the USDA reported on April 13. The state’s pastures were in "mostly very poor to fair" condition, the agency said.
The increase in so-called cattle placements "has to do with the dry weather moving through the southern Plains," said Bob Wilson, an analyst at HedgersEdge.com LLC in Greenwood Village , Colorado . "There just wasn’t any other place to put the cattle, so they’ve had to move them into the feed yards."
Feedlots buy year-old animals that weigh 500 pounds (227 kilograms) to 800 pounds and fatten them on corn until they weigh about 1,200 pounds and are sold to slaughterhouses.