August 11, 2023
At a Glance
- Overall cattle inventory down 3%, lowest since 2014
- Beef cow inventory lowest on record
- High input costs, drought contributing to reduced herds
Beef cattle inventories in the United States are at record low numbers, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report issued earlier in July.
USDA’s Cattle Inventory report, released each July, gives a snapshot of the cattle industry on a national scale. A similar report, released each January, breaks numbers down on a state-by-state basis. According to the most recent report, the U.S. cattle industry in aggregate has reduced its inventory by 3% to 95.9 million head, the lowest since 2014.
The inventory of beef cows in particular fell to 29.4 million head, 3% lower than the January 2022 inventory and the lowest number on record since 1971, when USDA began collecting such data.
James Mitchell, extension livestock economist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said the overall decline in inventory was expected, propelled by two well-known factors: the high cost of production and drought.
“It seems like every time drought abates in one part of the country, it pops up somewhere else,” Mitchell said. “Two years ago, we had a terrible drought in the western part of the country — Colorado, Montana, Wyoming. Last year that drought moved over the plains states, from North Dakota all the way down to Texas. Currently, that drought has moved either farther east, so it’s hitting Missouri and Iowa.
“It’s shifted east, and impacted producers’ ability to retain heifers and to grow their herds,” he said.
Drough effects
Arkansas producers, while more or less in the same fight as everyone else, have at least managed to avoid the worst of the country’s drought effects, Mitchell said.