Cattle Inventory Drops One Percent

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently released their annual Cattle Inventory Report, and according to a story from Rusty Halvorson, there are one percent fewer cattle in the U.S. compared to the same time last year.

Key findings in the USDA report, as of Jan. 1, 2025 include:

• 86.7 million head total inventory.
• All cows and heifers that have calved totaled 37.2 million.
• There are 27.9 million beef cows, down 1% from last year.
• The number of milk cows in the U.S. saw a slight increase to 9.35 million.
• U.S. calf crop, at 33.5 million head, is down slightly from previous year.
• All cattle on feed were at 14.3 million head, down 1% from 2024.

USDA NASS surveyed approximately 36,100 operators across the nation during the first half of January. Those producers were asked to report their cattle inventories as of Jan. 1, 2025, and calf crop for the entire year of 2024.

More numbers from this report are available at nass.usda.gov/Publications.