Lowest US cow/heifer inventory since 1941.

[Sir Loin]

Lowest US cow/heifer inventory since 1941.
Why???  :-\
SL

According to USDA’s Cattle Inventory report, released Friday, all cattle and calves in the U.S. as of Jan. 1, 2014 totaled 87.7 million head, 2% below the 89.3 million on Jan. 1, 2013. This is the lowest Jan. 1 inventory of all cattle and calves since the 82.1 million on hand in 1951.

All cows and heifers that have calved, at 38.3 million, were down 1% from the 38.5 million on Jan. 1, 2013. This is the lowest Jan. 1 inventory of all cows and heifers that have calved since the 36.8 million head in 1941.

http://beefmagazine.com/cow-calf/beef-cattle-herd-expansion-real-least-now

 

[CAB]

  I really wonder if these #s are all that important B/C we are such a Global market now and transportation has improved so much. I think that if beef is cheaper else where, that is where it will come from. What are our expenses like compared to 1941 / 1951?

 

[Sir Loin]

I really wonder if these #s are all that important B/C we are such a Global market now and transportation has improved so much. I think that if beef is cheaper else where, that is where it will come from. What are our expenses like compared to 1941 / 1951?

I certainly don't disagree with you.
I don't think there is one answer to this question.
I agree, global markets, ( supply and demand ) and global competition can affect our inventory.

In looking at those numbers, one thing/question that comes to my mind is:
Are dairy cattle included in those numbers as dairy cattle have become a duel purpose producer of both milk and beef?

As for “our expenses “ I do believe that plays a very big part in it.
IMO, anyone wanting to get in the cattle business and starting from scratch, with a 50 head herd, will have to invest at least $600,000 for land cost alone in my area.
And another $150,000 for cattle, fencing and proper equipment to handle cattle etc, not including hay fields or hay equipment.
And that's a big nut to crack for a low profit risky small business.
That is one of the reasons I think there are few new comers getting into the business and fewer cows/heifers are being produced.
Simply put-- fewer cattlemen produce fewer cattle.
SL

 

[CAB]

  More Holstein steers fed than any other breed of cattle.

 

[RyanChandler]

One thing that is never taken into consideration is the size of the cattle being produced as in the quantity of meat yielded per hd.  I had read something that said cow numbers were lower than they were in 1950 but in terms of yield, more meat was produced today.  For example, say steers have the same dressing % - if in 1950 steers were 1000lbs and today they're 1300- it could be said that we could produce the same amount of meat today with 23% less cattle than we could in 1950. 

 

[Pleasant Grove Farms]

we see first hand the reason why there are fewer and fewer cows in our country.....
first would be the gov't payments and crop insurance offered by our gov't to dirt farmers giving them no risk
to plant a crop; those farmers have taken out fences here, plowed up pasture land to the roads, leaving no ditches; they farm
every inch of soil they can; some of the land is not suited for farming....prone to flooding, hilly, rocky, but the gov't
has in the past paid them to farm, so that they do.
Also, these dirt farmers and their families do enjoy having no chores in the winter months....they take vacations, they
are free to attend their kids' sporting events; instead of battling blizzards, having chores to do and now swamped with
cows calving in the challenging weather we are having. 

I have never talked to a dirt farmer who said he wanted to get into cattle.

 

[Sir Loin]

XBAR,
Re:

One thing that is never taken into consideration is the size of the cattle being produced as in the quantity of meat yielded per hd.

Very true!
I'm a B Angus man all the way, but the promotion of CAB is on it's way out and the new promotion is “ affordable beef “.You are correct the move is under way from quality to quantity, at least in my area as I am seeing more and more Chars where there has been B Angus for over 20 years.
Plus, now that WalMart is carrying beef, their new cuts, “thin cut”, allows them to get more cuts out of the same amount of beef which makes it more affordable.
So by raising bigger cows and making ( new ) smaller cuts you get more beef for the consumer.

SL

 

[RyanChandler]

sounds like the Euro market-  and ultimately the world market seeing how population continues to rise and.. well, I don't see any more land being created. 

 

[Sir Loin]

FYI:
U.S. Beef Herd Is Mostly Black But Changing Slightly
http://beefmagazine.com/cattle-genetics/us-beef-herd-mostly-black-changing-slightly?intlink=rceoc

 

[mark tenenbaum]

  More Holstein steers fed than any other breed of cattle./// CERTIFIED A2@#%^&US BEEF LOL O0

 

[nkotb]

Lowest US cow/heifer inventory since 1941.
Why???  :-\
SL

I would guess most have been killed by sulfur toxicity or the phantom Polio "Virus"

 

[Sir Loin]

Mortality rate has got to be part of the problem also, I'm sure.

What with more and more cows showing up at the slaughterhouse and being rejected for diseased condition, cancer eye, no hoofs, downers, or all the cows that die even before they are shipped to the slaughterhouse for the same conditions, it has got to make an impact on the mortality rate and inventory.
And then there are all the cows that won't breed, all the calves that are aborted or born dead or sick and die later, all from sulfur induced PEM has got to be a significant number.
And that could even be why so many cattlemen are being forced out of business further reducing inventory.
All of which reduces the total US cattle inventory.
SL

 

[knabe]

So by raising bigger cows and making ( new ) smaller cuts you get more beef for the consumer.

same thing is said with affordable care act.

 

[RyanChandler]

So by raising bigger cows and making ( new ) smaller cuts you get more beef for the consumer.

same thing is said with affordable care act.

as with all risk pools.

 

[CAB]

The reason that there are less cows in our area is as Pleasant Grove Farms stated earlier. Easier and more lucrative to tear out the fences and grain farm for the last while. The ethanol craze caused high feed costs making feed costs too high to make a decent profit for the risk and work involved. It's also getting very hard to find any type of reliable help, but I think economic reasons are the main reason for the decline in cow numbers.

 

[knabe]

Obamacare isn't a risk pool.

It's an unfounded liability

Hen the death panels hit, there will be outrage and the only way liberals will be able to get votes will be to print money to cover infinite care.

With doctors on the decline, and add on new reporting requirements, more people will be needed to comply, this the government forces small practitioners out. It will be interesting when qualifications go down, either by requirements to do what a doctor does and or to become a doctor.


some fun reading about the debt and only to grow as death panels are phased out.


http://www.justfacts.com/nationaldebt.asp#quantifying


"Without major changes in health care delivery systems, the prices paid by Medicare for health services are very likely to fall increasingly short of the costs of providing these services. By the end of the long-range projection period, Medicare prices for hospital, skilled nursing facility, home health, hospice, ambulatory surgical center, diagnostic laboratory, and many other services would be less than half of their level under the prior law. Medicare prices would be considerably below the current relative level of Medicaid prices, which have already led to access problems for Medicaid enrollees, and far below the levels paid by private health insurance. Well before that point, Congress would have to intervene to prevent the withdrawal of providers from the Medicare market and the severe problems with beneficiary access to care that would result. Overriding the productivity adjustments, as Congress has done repeatedly in the case of physician payment rates, would lead to far higher costs for Medicare in the long range than those projected under current law."
[/size]
[/size]inevitable that government involvement will not only lead to increased prices for decreasing services, but demographic voting for even more money from producers and great grand children not yet born.

 

[RyanChandler]

The money that is being squandered subsidizing the production of exported food could be reallocated towards implementing universal healthcare- and while were at it, we can cut military spending in half and use that money to provide education for those interested in entering the medical field.  Invest in America. 

 

[knabe]

The money that is being squandered subsidizing the production of exported food could be reallocated towards implementing universal healthcare- and while were at it, we can cut military spending in half and use that money to provide education for those interested in entering the medical field.  Invest in America.

and when money that is being squandered on your programs, we can always printing more and squander more and make our great grandchildren pay for it.


sometimes i can't tell if you are more similar to pot, stalin, hitler, rhodes, mussolini, himmler, lenin, obama, marx, keynes, sanger, singer.  now that i think of it, you are all of them.

 

[DLD]

A very big part of why the cow herd is smaller in our region (I'm saying western OK and western TX, at least - I believe there are other areas facing the same situation) is drought.  Both grass and water supplies have severely limited the capacity for cows in our part of the world for several years.  Along with that is the age of producers.  Though parts of the region did get some rain last year, and many producers started trying to build back, many others are old enough that they just don't care to start over again.  And they don't have anyone that's anxious to jump in and replace them.  Of course high costs and high risks for the income potential are a big factor in that, as has already been mentioned. 

 

[BTDT]

Lowest US cow/heifer inventory since 1941.
Why???  :-\
SL

I would guess most have been killed by sulfur toxicity or the phantom Polio "Virus"

<party> That's pretty funny!