Agricultural News
USDA Will Offer Answers Later Today About the Growth of the US Beef Cow Herd the Past Twelve Months
Tue, 31 Jan 2017 05:34:27
On Tuesday afternoon, the US Department of Agriculture will release the January first Cattle Inventory report, providing a snapshot of the size of the US cattle herd as of January first. Expectations are that it will show further growth in the size of the US Beef Cow Herd, which has been recovering in recent years from drought that hit the southern great plains at the beginning of this decade.
Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Economist Dr. Derrell Peel believes the report may show as much as one to two percent growth in the size of the US Beef Cow herd that was pegged at 30.3 million head as of January 1, 2016. Beef producers added a million beef cows in 2015- growing the herd from 29.3 million to 30.3 million head that year. The increase in 2016 from 2015 was four percent.
Dr. Peel says a number that he will be watching closely in today's report is the Beef Cow Replacement figure. The last two years- the January first Beef Cow Replacement numbers have hit 6 million and 6.2 million head respectively. Peel thinks that number will be substantially under that for January 1, 2017- based on larger numbers of heifers being placed into feedlots in recent months. This past Friday's Cattle on Feed report was a quarterly report, giving us the latest breakdown of steers and heifers- and it showed larger numbers of females going into the feedlots of the major cattle states compared to January 1, 2016.
You can hear Dr. Peel's comments on what he is anticipating from the Cattle Inventory report by clicking on the LISTEN BAR below.
For reference ahead of today's report- click or tap here to see the January 2016 Cattle Inventory Report.
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