The U.S. cattle industry continues to contract, with even tighter numbers likely in the coming months due to a smaller calf crop caused by drought in the major feeding areas and producers trying to improve margins in the face of high feed costs.
The USDA says the domestic cattle inventory at the start of the year was 89.274 million head, 3% less than on January 1st, 2022. That included a 3% decrease in the numbers of cows and heifers that have calved to 38.32 million head with a 4% decline in beef cows to 28.918 million head canceling out a slight rise for milk cows at 9.403 million.
