IARN — The U.S. Department of Agriculture released its annual Cattle Inventory report on Friday.
USDA livestock analyst Shayle Shagam says the total U.S. herd on January 1, 2021 was down about 200,000 head year-over-year.
“The number of cattle in the United States on January 1st was estimated at 93.6 million head, which was down two-tenths of a percent from a year ago,” Shagam said. “The number of cows was 40.6 million head, which was down two-tenths of a percent from a year ago. Beef cows were 31.2 million head, which was down six-tenths of a percent.”
“Producers indicated intentions to keep about 5.6 million head of heifers for beef cow replacement, which was one-tenth of a percent above a year ago,” Shagam continued. “NASS also gives us an estimate of the calf crop for 2020 in this report, which was down 1.3 percent from a year ago at 35.1 million head.”
Shagam adds the report showed a cautious dairy herd expansion.
“If we look at the number of dairy cows, we are looking at about just over 9.4 million head, which is up about 1 percent from a year ago,” Shagam said. “Producers indicated intentions to keep about 6.4 million head for milk cow replacement, which is down 1.7 percent. Even though we’ve seen the numbers expand year over year, producers remain relatively cautious in terms of their expansion of the milk cow herd.”
“From USDA’s standpoint,” he continued, “we do expect to see probably a gradual expansion of the herd moving into 2021.”
To view USDA’s full Cattle Inventory report, click here.
Story courtesy of the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network
Graph by USDA
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