U.S. and Canadian cattle inventory down 1 percent

By Janie Gabbett on 8/20/2008

All cattle and calves in the United States and Canada combined totaled 119.5 million head on July 1, 2008, down 1 percent from a year ago, according to Statistics Canada and USDA.

All cows and heifers that have calved totaled 48.2 million head, also down 1 percent from a year ago.

All cattle and calves in the United States as of July 1, 2008, totaled 104.3 million head, slightly below the 104.8 million on July 1, 2007, and 1 percent below the 105.2 million two years ago. All cows and heifers that have calved, at 42.4 million head, was down slightly from a year ago.

All cattle and calves in Canada as of July 1, 2008, totaled 15.2 million head, down 4 percent from the 15.9 million on July 1, 2007, and 5 percent below the 16 million two years ago. All cows and heifers in Canada that have calved, at 5.84 million, was down 4 percent from the 6.08 million on July 1, 2007, and 5 percent below the 6.17 million from two years ago.

Statistics Canada and USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service release these combined cattle numbers at the request of the U.S. cattle industry to provide additional information about potential beef supplies. U.S. inventory numbers were previously released on July 25, 2008.