(Reuters) — Placements of cattle in U.S. feedyards last month likely declined 4.4 percent from April 2013 after years of drought reduced the herd to a 63-year low, resulting in fewer animals for feedlots to draw from, according to analysts surveyed by Reuters.
The April 2014 placement result could appear smaller when compared to a much larger placement outcome a year earlier, they said.
The U.S. Agriculture Department will issue its May Cattle-On-Feed report on Friday. It will include the May 1 feedlot supply, April placements and April marketings.
Because of decreased cattle placements, analysts on average estimate the May 1 feedlot cattle supply at 99.1 percent of year earlier.
Cattle marketings in April were forecast on average at 97.6 percent of a year earlier. There were the same number of days to market cattle last month as a year ago during the same period.
