Cattle slaughter is expected to have tumbled to 2.2 million head in March, down from 2.5 million in the year- earlier period, according to Barclays estimates and data from the U.S. Agriculture Department. Beef production slid by 300,000 pounds to 1.9 million over the same time, the bank found. The U.S. cattle herd now stands at its smallest since the 1950s, when the U.S. population was half today's size. Live cattle futures traded at the CME Group settled at $2.51 per pound on Tuesday, the highest price on ...