The American cattle herd has slipped further from an already multi-decade low.
A USDA cattle inventory report released Friday pegged the total number of cattle and calves in the US as of Jan. 1 at 86.2 million. That is down slightly from 86.5 million a year earlier, which was the lowest since 1951.
Meanwhile, US producers appear to be taking only modest steps toward expansion. Beef replacement heifers, at 4.71 million head, were up just 1% from a year ago, while the number of beef cows were down 1% at 27.6 million.
Heading into today’s report, most traders and analysts were anticipating the number of beef cows to be up 0.4%, with replacement heifers expected to see a sharper 1.7% increase.
The 2025 calf crop in the US was estimated at 32.9 million head, down 2% from the previous year's calf crop. Calves born during the first half of 2025 were estimated at 24.2 million head, down 2% from the first half of 2024. Calves born during the second half of 2025 were estimated at 8.7 million head.
Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the US for all feedlots totaled 13.8 million head on Jan. 1, 2026, down 3% from the January 1, 2025 total of 14.3 million head.
