As of July 1, there were 98.4 million head of cattle on U.S. farms, according to the Cattle report published today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). This marks the first increase in inventory since 2006.
Other key findings in the report were:
- The 2015 calf crop is expected to be 34.3 million, of which 24.8 million were born during the first half of the year and 9.5 million are expected to be born in the last six months of 2015.
- Of the 98.4 million cattle and calves, 39.8 million were all cows and heifers that have calved.
- Of the 39.8 million cows and heifers that have calved, 30.5 million head were beef cows and 9.3 million were milk cows.
To obtain an accurate measurement of the current state of the U.S. cattle industry, NASS surveyed more than 10,000 operators across the nation during the first half of July. NASS interviewers collected the data by mail, telephone and through face-to-face personal interviews. NASS asked all participating producers to report their cattle inventories as of July 1, 2015 and calf crop for the entire 2015 calendar year.