Pacific Region Livestock Review
California Cattle on Feed
Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in California for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 420,000 head on April 1, 2016. The inventory was 5 percent below from last month and down 6 percent from April 1, 2015. During March, placements in feedlots totaled 44,000 head, down 20 percent from the previous year. Marketings of fed cattle during March totaled 58,000 head, up 26 percent from March 2015. Other disappearance totaled 6,000 head during March, 50 percent above March 2015.
United States Cattle on Feed
Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 10.9 million head on April 1, 2016. The inventory was up 1 from April 1, 2015. Placements in feedlots during March totaled 1.89 million head, 5 percent above from 2015. Net placements were 1.83 million head. During March, placements of cattle and calves weighing less than 600 pounds were 352,000 head, 600-699 pounds were 275,000 head, 700-799 pounds were 495,000 head, and 800 pounds and greater were 770,000 head. Marketings of fed cattle during March totaled 1.75 million head, 7 percent above from last year. Other disappearance totaled 62,000 head during March, 10 percent below from previous year.
United States Commercial Slaughter
Commercial red meat production for the United States totaled 4.26 billion pounds in March, 2016, 5 percent above the 4.07 billion pounds produced in March 2015.
Beef production, at 2.10 billion pounds, was 8 percent above the previous year. Cattle slaughter totaled 2.53 million head, up 6 percent from March 2015.
Veal production totaled 6.40 million pounds, 8 percent below March a year ago. Calf slaughter totaled 35,900 head, down 10 percent from March 2015.
Pork production totaled 2.15 billion pounds, up 2 percent from the previous year. Hog slaughter totaled 10.1 million head, up 2 percent from March 2015.
Lamb and mutton production, at 14.3 million pounds, was down slightly from March 2015. Sheep slaughter totaled 205,900 head, up slightly from last year.
California Milk Production
California milk producers had a total of 1.77 million milk cows for March that produced 3.61 billion pounds of milk. Milk production is up 9 percent from February, 2016 and down 2 percent from March 2015. Monthly milk per cow averaged 2,035 pounds, up 175 pounds from February 2016.