The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently released the July cattle reports. USDA Livestock Analyst Anthony Fischer tells us what those reports show.
Fischer said, “Cattle inventory on July 1st was 94.2 million head, which was slightly above a year ago.”
“The number of beef cows was 28.5 million head, which was about one percent below a year ago. Producers indicated intentions to hold back about three percent more heifers for beef cow replacement and about three percent more heifers for milk cow replacement, which left about 7.3 million head of other heifers, or about one percent below a year ago. The number of steers 500 pounds and over was about one percent above a year ago, while the number of bulls and the number of calves under 500 pounds were unchanged from 2025,” Fischer added.
Fischer continued his analysis saying, “We also had our first indication of 2026 calf crop and that came in at 32.5 million head, which was about two percent below a year ago. The number of cattle on feed on July 1st was 11.4 million head, which was two percent higher compared to a year ago. During June, 1.4 million head of cattle were placed on feed, which was three percent below a year ago.”
“Despite the lower placements due to tight supplies of cattle outside feedlots, the even slower pace of marketing of animals has actually increased the number of cattle on feed compared to this time in 2025. So, this tells us that feedlots continue to keep animals on feed for longer in order to manage the tight supplies of cattle. But we had an additional day of slaughter in 2026, so if you make the adjustment on a per day basis, marketings were actually seven percent below a year ago,” said Fischer.
Audio Reporting by Elizabeth Sanders for Southeast AgNet.