Coming at the end of the month will be USDA’s annual Cattle Inventory Report, something that many in the industry are looking forward to seeing. Rusty Halvorson has the story.
Later this month, on Thursday, Jan. 31, USDA will release its yearly Cattle Inventory report.
Last year, the report revealed the beef cowherd at the start of 2024 stood at a record low of 28.2 million head. It’s expected this year’s report will showcase an even lower number of beef cows.
Market analyst Scott Varilek of KKV Trading says it’s tough for producers to hold back heifers when they’re bringing good money to the operation.
“You know, you feel like ‘this is my year to capitalize and to cash in’ and for a lot of our older generation ranchers, it’s absolutely that. We have such a labor shortage and challenges of our own, higher input costs. So it makes it a little bit easier just to load a few extra on the truck. Rather than say, ‘I’m going to keep a few extras back’ it’s a lot easier to send them on along the way.”
Varilek says it’s not financially worth it right now for producers to begin expanding their herds.
“It’s just very frustrating that we have the beef market that we have, that we have to raise less numbers to get the market to rally. That’s really all that we have. The leverage that the packer has with all the formula cattle, and I think this is your after-effects of what’s happening from all of that.”
Cattlemen are expected to have another profitable year in 2025, as long as beef demand remains as resilient as it did in 2024. Still, that doesn’t mean the year will be without its own unique challenges.