The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released their July 1 Cattle Report last week, which show declines in almost all classes of cattle since their last mid-year report.
According to Drovers Cattle Network, a 2013 July Cattle report was not issued due to the sequestration that temporarily reduced funding for federal government agencies. Comparing 2014 numbers to the mid-year report of 2012 shows the following:
• All cattle and calves in the United States, at 95 million head, are down 3 percent from 97.8 million.
• Cows and heifers that have calved, at 39 million, are down 2 percent.
• Beef cows, at 29.7 million, are down 3 percent.
• Milk cows, at 9.3 million, up 1 percent.
• All heifers weighing 500 pounds and over, at 14.9 million, are down 5 percent.
• Beef replacement heifers, at 4.1 million, are down 2 percent.
• Milk replacement heifers are down 5 percent at 3.9 million head.
• Other heifers, at 6.9 million, are down 7 percent.
• Steers weighing 500 pounds and over are down 4 percent at13.5 million head.
Comparing recent numbers over two years could be misleading without taking in recent trends, including female calves in July being classified as replacement heifers the following January, or beef-cow numbers dropping due to late-summer and fall culling.
Also released last week, the Cattle on Feed report suggested cattle ranchers retained a few more heifers for breeding, with an overall reduction in feedyard inventories of 2 percent compared to a year ago.