Data supports aggressive herd expansion
“The ratio of steers to heifers in feedlots since April of this year has reached levels not seen since the cyclical expansion in the early 1990s," says Derrell Peel, Extension livestock marketing specialist at Oklahoma State University.
Ongoing reductions in the ratio of heifers on feed to steers suggests herd expansion is continuing at an aggressive rate, says Derrell Peel, Extension livestock marketing specialist at Oklahoma State University, in his weekly market comments.
“The ratio of steers to heifers in feedlots since April of this year has reached levels not seen since the cyclical expansion in the early 1990s. The quarterly data on the breakdown of feedlot inventory only goes back to 1994,” says Peel. “Similar indications are shown by the ratio of steer to heifer slaughter, for which the data goes back much further. A 12- month moving average of the ratio of steer-to-heifer monthly slaughter for September is at the highest level since June, 1975. The current ratio of steer to heifer slaughter exceeds levels that occurred in the cyclical expansion of the early 1990s as well as the truncated expansion in 2004-2005.”