Cattle Herd Continues to Tighten

The U.S. cattle herd is at its smallest level in more than 75 years. According to USDA’s new cattle inventory report, the supply of cattle and calves totaled 86. 2 million head on January 1. That’s down from 86.5 million a year ago. Beef cow numbers declined one percent while the inventory of dairy milk cows rose two percent. Beef heifer replacements rose one percent. Dairy heifer inventories edged up two percent. The calf crop is down two percent.