Agricultural News
US Cattle Herd Drops to Lowest Level in Last Fifty Years
Sat, 29 Jan 2011 17:40:30 CST
The US Department of Agriculture has released it's beginning of the year cattle inventory report- and it shows smaller cattle numbers than a year ago- with several key numbers at their smallest levels in decades.
All cattle and calves in the United States as of January 1, 2011, totaled 92.6 million head, 1 percent below the 93.9 million on January 1, 2010. This is the lowest January 1 inventory of all cattle and calves since the 91.2 million on hand in 1958.
The Oklahoma cattle herd is pegged at 5.1 million head, a drop of seven percent from just a year ago. As this is based on January first data, the dry conditions that forced many calves off wheat pasture made a difference in the year to year numbers. Oklahoma is the fourth largest state in terms of beef cattle numbers- and fifth in the overall cattle herd numbers. Texas is easily the top cattle state in the US- with 13.3 million head of cattle as of January first. Other beef cattle states ahead of Oklaoma include Kansas with 6.3 million head and Nebraska with 6.2 million head.
Oklahoma is the second largest Beef Cow state in the country, with 2,036,000 beef mama cows, which is two percent lower than a year ago. The cattle with easily the most beef cows, Texas, also dropped two percent of its beef cow herd versus 2010 with 5,025,000 beef cows.
All cows and heifers that have calved, at 40.0 million, were down 1 percent from the 40.5 million on January 1, 2010.
* Beef cows, at 30.9 million, were down 2 percent from January 1, 2010.
* Milk cows, at 9.1 million, were up 1 percent from January 1, 2010.
Other class estimates on January 1, 2011, and the change from January 1, 2010, are as follows:
* All heifers 500 pounds and over, 19.5 million, down 1 percent.
* Beef replacement heifers, 5.2 million, down 5 percent.
* Milk replacement heifers, 4.6 million, up 1 percent.
* Other heifers, 9.8 million, up 1 percent.
* Steers weighing 500 pounds and over, 16.4 million, down 1 percent.
* Bulls weighing 500 pounds and over, 2.2 million, down 2 percent.
* Calves under 500 pounds, 14.5 million, down 3 percent.
* Cattle and calves on feed for slaughter in all feedlots, 14.0 million,
up 3 percent.
* The combined total of calves under 500 pounds, and other heifers and
steers over 500 pounds outside of feedlots was 26.7 million, down 3
percent.
Calf Crop Down 1 Percent
The 2010 calf crop was estimated at 35.7 million head, down 1 percent from 2009. This is the smallest calf crop since the 34.9 million born during 1950. Calves born during the first half of 2010 are estimated at 25.9 million, down 1 percent from 2009.
Click here for the full report from USDA.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI
Top Agricultural News
More Headlines...