Cattle and calves on feed for slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 11.0 million head on January 1, 2010. The inventory was 2 percent below January 1, 2009.

Placements in feedlots during December totaled 1.55 million, 6 percent below 2008.

Marketings of fed cattle during December totaled 1.74 million, 4 percent above 2008. Other disappearance totaled 72,000 during December, 5 percent below 2008.