See the takeaways from the 2018 National Cattle Inventory Report when compared to 2017 numbers.
Each year the USDA takes a tally of all the cows in the U.S. to understand the fluctuations within the U.S. herd. Traditionally, the information is released on the first of the year. See the takeaways from this year’s Cattle Inventory Report, from a SoutheastFarmPress.com article, below.
Takeaways from the National Cattle Inventory Report
According to the article, the cattle inventory indicates there will be “have a little bit more herd expansion left this year than some expected, and cattle feeders are staying current despite bigger supplies.” The article also quoted Derrell Peel, a livestock marketing specialist with Oklahoma State University, as saying ““So we could see some added growth in 2018, but likely not more than 1%, and that was really in the realm of expectations, too.”
Trends revealed by the Cattle Inventory Report include:
- Total herd at 94.39 million, up 101% of the 2017 level of 7 million head.
- Beef cow replacement heifers at 6.13 million, down 96% of 2017’s 6.37 million.
- All cows and heifers that have calved were up 41.1 million head, a 1 percent increase over the 40.6 million head in 2017. Beef cows totaled 31.7 million head, an increase of 2 percent over 2017’s numbers.
- All steers 500 pounds and over remained the same at 16.35 million.
- All cattle on feed increased to 14 million head, an increase of 7 percent over 20017’s 1 million head
- The calf crop increased 2 percent to 35.81 million, from the 35.09 million counted in 2017.
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