(Brownfield Network) – A livestock economist says he’s still not seeing signs of expansion in the cattle industry.
University of Missouri’s Scott Brown says despite the ongoing strength in the cattle markets, USDA data suggests cattle producers haven’t started growing the U.S. herd. “Beef cow slaughter for the first three months, we’re down 90,000 head from where we were the first quarter of a year ago,” he says. “That’s down 9.4%, so headed lower. However, slaughter is running high enough that it tells me we’re not doing a lot to build the herd.”
When the herd expansion was underway in 2015, heifers made up about 31 percent of total cattle on feed. He tells Brownfield that is not the case today. “As we look at the latest report we have, we’re now at 38.7%,” he says. “We’ve been north of 38%, really since late 2019. The report certainly shows us that we’re also not holding back heifers.”
Brown says favorable weather conditions for both corn and alfalfa this year could entice some producers to ramp up their expansion efforts a little earlier than expected.
(Photo by Eric Schroen on Unsplash)
