An extension livestock economist says the UDSA’s decision to cancel the July Cattle Inventory Report is a huge loss for the industry. Oklahoma State University’s Derrell Peel says this is a problematic time to lose access to data. “Given where we are right now, we’re in a cyclical low in numbers and we’re really concerned right now about sort of the process of stopping liquidation, stabilizing the beef cow herd,” he says. “And beginning that process of rebuilding.”
He tells Brownfield the inventory reports only happen twice a year. “By losing the July report, we won’t have any estimate of heifer retention in terms of the replacement heifer estimates,” he says. “We won’t have any estimate of the feeder supply in the middle of the year.
