U.S. Beef Cow Inventory Update – Jan ’17
According to USDA’s semiannual cattle inventory report, the U.S. beef cow herd continued to expand throughout 2016, finishing at a seven year high. The report showed that as of January 1st, 2017, the beef cow herd was 3.5% higher than a year ago while the number of beef replacement heifers was 1.2% higher than the 2016 figure. The total beef cow herd finished the year at 31.21 million head, up 1.04 million head from the prior year while beef replacement heifers finished the year at 6.42 million head, up 79,000 head from the previous year.
Texas had the largest beef cow herd as of January 1st, 2017, followed by Oklahoma, Missouri and Nebraska. The aforementioned states accounted for over a third of the total national beef cow herd.
YOY increases in beef cow herds were led by Oklahoma (+172,000 head), followed by Texas (+170,000 head) and Missouri (+150,000 head). Mississippi (-24,000 head) experienced the largest reduction in their beef cow herd throughout the year.
The number of beef replacement heifers increased for the sixth consecutive year and finished the year at a 22 year high. Despite increasing on an absolute basis, on a heifer replacement per beef cow basis, the 2017 figure of 0.206 finished slightly below the 47 year high of 0.210 experienced throughout the previous year.
Texas had the largest number of beef heifer replacements as of January 1st, 2017, followed by Oklahoma, Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska. The aforementioned states accounted for over a third of the total U.S. beef heifer replacements.
Beef heifer replacement growth was most significant in North Dakota (+23,000 head), followed by Texas (+20,000 head), Montana (+20,000 head), South Dakota (+20,000 head) and Kansas (+20,000 head). Idaho (-20,000 head) experienced the largest reduction in beef heifer replacements throughout the year.
Texas had the largest beef cow herd as of January 1st, 2017, followed by Oklahoma, Missouri and Nebraska. The aforementioned states accounted for over a third of the total national beef cow herd.
YOY increases in beef cow herds were led by Oklahoma (+172,000 head), followed by Texas (+170,000 head) and Missouri (+150,000 head). Mississippi (-24,000 head) experienced the largest reduction in their beef cow herd throughout the year.
The number of beef replacement heifers increased for the sixth consecutive year and finished the year at a 22 year high. Despite increasing on an absolute basis, on a heifer replacement per beef cow basis, the 2017 figure of 0.206 finished slightly below the 47 year high of 0.210 experienced throughout the previous year.
Texas had the largest number of beef heifer replacements as of January 1st, 2017, followed by Oklahoma, Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska. The aforementioned states accounted for over a third of the total U.S. beef heifer replacements.
Beef heifer replacement growth was most significant in North Dakota (+23,000 head), followed by Texas (+20,000 head), Montana (+20,000 head), South Dakota (+20,000 head) and Kansas (+20,000 head). Idaho (-20,000 head) experienced the largest reduction in beef heifer replacements throughout the year.