Jan 2023 Beef Cow Inventory Lowest Since 1962

A couple of highlights of the USDA’s semi-annual survey report measuring U.S. cattle inventories as of January 1, 2023.

• The top-line category – “All Cattle and Calves” – declined by 3.04% relative to the (revised) 2022 inventory to 89.27 million head. This was a smaller decline than predicted by many industry experts. However, the last time this category declined by a greater percentage was 1987 (3.09%)
• The inventory of “Beef Cows” in the U.S. declined by 3.55% from the (revised) 2022 inventory level.
• The resulting 2023 Beef Cow inventory of 28.92m head is the lowest since 1962 (see chart).

Links to the full USDA report below:

TXT – https://downloads.usda.library.cornell.edu/usda-esmis/files/h702q636h/ms35vn48m/rv044466n/catl0123.txt

PDF – https://downloads.usda.library.cornell.edu/usda-esmis/files/h702q636h/ms35vn48m/fj237f291/catl0123.pdf