Cattle Inventory Falls
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. The July round of cattle-focused reports from USDA shows drought is still impacting the number of cattle available for breeding.
But, Bernt Nelson, American Farm Bureau Federation Economist, says the Cattle Inventory Report showed a larger decline than what analysts expected …
NELSON … “In July the report estimated that all cattle and calves in the U.S. totaled 95.9 million head on July 1. This was down three percent compared to last year's report. U.S. beef cattle came in at 29.4 million head. Now this was a 52 year low for beef cattle supplies. That's a significant number when we start talking about beef prices.”
Placements in the Cattle on Feed report remain elevated, 3% above last year, a signal that drought is still having an impact on cattle producers.
Nelson says when considering demand, consumers should expect prices to rise …
NELSON … “As long as we have elevated placements of heifers on feed, this will indicate that contraction of our cattle inventory will continue, for sure through 2024 and it will definitely be through 2025 before we can even consider rebuilding some of this herd. Demand has remained strong on both the global front and the domestic front. But prices have begun to come up, and they may continue to come up as long as our demand stays strong for beef.”
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