CATTLE  INVENTORY  BELOW  A  YEAR  AGO

On Friday, January 29^th USDA released the January 1 Cattle Inventory report which reported the total number of cattle and calves in the U.S. at 93.7 million head, one percent below a year ago and slightly larger than expected.  As expected, the key inventory categories associated with the beef industry posted year-to-year declines.

According to the report, USDA estimated the January 1, 2010 national beef cowherd at 31.4 million head, one percent smaller than 2009’s.  On a nationwide basis, 29 states reported a decline in beef cow numbers compared to a year ago.  The report indicated that beef cow numbers are still in a modest contraction phase as the number of heifers held for replacement purposes was two percent smaller than a year ago.  The dairy cowherd reported at 9.1 million head, was down three percent (about 250,000 head) from 2009’s.  Importantly, the number of dairy replacement heifers was two percent larger than last year’s and above pre-report estimates and will support more milk production and constrain milk price increases.

As expected, USDA reported that the 3-state (Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas) number of cattle on small grain pasture was above a year ago.  The number of cattle grazing small grain pastures in those states was 1.92 million head, up 300,000 head from 2009’s.  

USDA reported the 2009 calf crop at 35.8 million head, one percent smaller than 2008’s.  That number was a surprising 200,000 head above the earlier (July 1, 2009) USDA estimate. The number of other heifers and steers and the estimated number of cattle outside of feedlots was down only slightly from last year.  As of January 1^st, the calculated available supply of feeder cattle outside feedlots was 27.5 million head, 35 thousand head less than last year.