Last week, the U.S. Cattle Report from the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) reported that the national cattle inventory was at 87.2 million, down 2% from 2023.
Data from NASS showed that this was the smallest cattle inventory count since 1951 when the herd size was 82.1 million.
Various Categories:
Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the U.S. totaled 14.4 million, up 2% from 2023
Calved cows and heifers totaled 37.6 million head, a 2% decrease from the 38.3 million in 2023
Milk cows stood at 9.36 million, slightly down from 2023
Heifers 500lbs and over was down 1% from 2023 to 18.5 million head
Beef replacement heifers were also down 2% at 4.86 million
Milk replacement heifers were slightly down to 4.06 million
