National Ag News for June 24, 2025
U.S. Cattle on Feed Down One Percent
The USDA’s Cattle on Feed Report said cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with a capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 11.4 million on June 1, 2025. That inventory level was one percent below June 1, 2024, which fell within most of the industry’s pre-report expectations. Industry experts called the report neutral to slightly friendly but continue to point to a tight supply picture for the cattle market. Drovers says several states continue to see inventory well below last year, such as Texas at 93 percent and Colorado at 96 percent of 2024. On the other end, Nebraska was 104 percent compared to 2024, Oklahoma was 102 percent, and Kansas was 101 percent. Fed cattle marketings in May totaled 1.76 million head, ten percent below 2024. Other disappearances in May totaled 62,000 head, unchanged from May 2024.
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Administration Still Considering Immigration Relief for U.S. Agriculture
President Donald Trump is again considering how to shield American agricultural industry stakeholders from the effects of his illegal immigration crackdown. USA Today says that comes only days after the administration reinstated workplace raids at U.S. agricultural operations. “We can’t put farms out of business,” Trump said on June 20. “We’re looking at doing something where good and reputable farmers can take responsibility for the people they hire and let them have the responsibility. At the same time, we don’t want to hurt people who are not criminals.” The messages have been mixed as raids continue despite the President promising changes to protect migrants in the farming, hotel, and leisure industries in a social media post on Truth Social on June 12. After directing immigration officials to largely pause the raids on farms, hotels, restaurants, and meatpacking plants, the administration reversed course only a few days later and resumed the raids.
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Klobuchar on Reconciliation Package Decisions
Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, commented on the Senate Parliamentarian’s advice that the agriculture, nutrition, and forestry provisions of the Republican reconciliation bill violate the Senate’s Byrd Rule. Those provisions would be subject to a 60-vote threshold if they’re included in the final bill before a Senate vote. These provisions include cost-shifts to states, which mandates that states cover a portion of SNAP program benefits with the state share escalating with payment error rates. “The Parliamentarian made clear that Senate Republicans cannot use their partisan budget to shift major nutrition assistance costs to the states, which would have inevitably led to major cuts,” she said. “While the Republican’s proposed cuts to SNAP will still be devastating to families, farmers, and independent grocers, we will keep fighting to protect families in need.” She also said Republicans should work with Democrats to lower costs for all Americans. ***********************************************************************************
American Wildfire Preparedness Level Boosted
The National Multi-Agency Coordination Group raised the national wildland fire preparedness level one step higher to Preparedness Level 3. The Group is composed of wildland fire representatives from each wildland fire agency based at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. “Peak fire season is here, and we have created the most prepared and coordinated wildfire-fighting force in the world,” said Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins. “We are taking this fire season seriously, and our federal wildland firefighters are prepared to respond.” Right now, Rollins said several active fires are burning across the country, and the U.S. Forest Service is actively responding. As of June 1, the Forest Service has hired 96 percent of its 11,300-firefighter hiring target, with full staffing expected by mid-July. This is ahead of where the agency has been in previous years, and the Forest Service is ready for the fire season ahead.
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Some U.S. Wheat Farmers Cut Losses
From Texas to Montana, Reuters says farmers cut some losses early this year across the U.S. Wheat Belt. Many farmers chose to bale the wheat into hay, plow some fields under, or turn them over to grazing animals. Farmers who have crop insurance can still earn revenue from damaged fields. The Great Plains are home to much of the U.S.-grown hard red winter wheat crop, which is favored by bakers for bread. However, with prices around $5 a bushel, America’s wheat farmers are at a point where they may be forced to lose money, feed the wheat to their cattle, or kill off their crops. USDA Crop Progress Reports show that the winter wheat harvest is behind schedule. A report from Total Farm Marketing says excessive rain continues to be the culprit. “If the rain continues, wheat quality issues may also show up,” said Naomi Blohm of Total Farm Marketing.
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May Milk Production up 1.7 Percent
Milk production in the 24 major milk-producing states in the U.S. totaled 19.1 billion pounds, up 1.7 percent from May 2024. April’s revised production, at 18.6 billion pounds, was up 1.7 percent from April 2024. The April revision represented an increase of 17 million pounds or 0.1 percent from last month’s preliminary production estimate. Production per cow in the 24 major milk-producing states averaged 2,125 pounds for May, seven pounds above May 2024. The number of milk cows on farms in the 24 states was nine million head, 118,000 head more than in May 2024 and 6,000 head more than in April 2025. Milk production in the United States totaled 19.9 billion pounds, up 1.6 percent from May 2024. Production per cow in the U.S. averaged 2,110 pounds for May, seven pounds above May 2024. The number of milk cows on U.S. farms totaled 9.45 million head, 114,000 more than in May 2024.
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