Canada’s cattle herd expanded on Jan. 1 for the first time in eight years, providing an early sign of stabilization after a prolonged period of contraction.
A Statistics Canada livestock report on Friday showed Canadian producers held 11.135 million cattle and calves on Jan. 1, 2026, up 2.5% from a year earlier. A StatsCan livestock report released back in August showed an increase in cattle numbers as of July 1, 2025 as well – up 0.8% from the same date the previous year and the first year-over-year increase since 2021.
Today’s numbers marked the first year-over-year increase in national Jan. 1 cattle inventories since 2018 and reflected growth across all major categories. StatsCan largely attributed the increase to higher international imports combined with reduced slaughter and fewer live exports.
Breeding inventories showed notable improvement, lending support to longer-term herd rebuilding. Beef heifers for breeding rose 4.8%, while beef cow numbers increased 1.9% from a year earlier. Calf inventories climbed 4.3% to 3.6 million head, supported in part by a sharp rise in imports. From July to December 2025, international calf imports surged 42.7% year over year to 368,000 head, helping bolster supplies despite tighter domestic production.
At the same time, cattle marketings slowed. Slaughter of cattle and calves from July through December 2025 fell 6.5% to 1.6 million head, while international exports declined 8.9% to 361,300 head. Even with reduced throughput, feeder and slaughter cattle prices pushed to record highs during the second half of 2025, supported by strong global beef demand and historically tight North American supplies.
While Canada is beginning to show tentative signs of herd expansion, the situation south of the border remains more constrained. The USDA’s annual cattle inventory report released earlier this year pegged the U.S. cattle inventory at 86.2 million head as of Jan. 1, 2026, down 0.35% from a year earlier and now the smallest in 75 years. The persistent contraction in U.S. inventories is expected to keep beef supplies tight and prices elevated, reinforcing strong market fundamentals for Canadian cattle producers as herd rebuilding efforts gradually take shape.
