The US cattle population is at its lowest level in more than 70 years

At the beginning of this year, the number of cattle in the United States was the lowest since 1951 - 87.2 million head. The industry portal Beef Central writes about this with reference to data from an annual study conducted by the National Agricultural Statistics Service of the US Department of Agriculture. In particular, the number of beef cows decreased by two percent or 700 thousand heads from the 2022 level - to 28.2 million, and calves - by 2.5 percent to 33.6. The statistics apparently do not include adult beef males and all dairy herds. Also, more recent data on the number of animals for the past period of the current year is not provided. However, it can be assumed that the situation has not changed much since then, at least for the better. The reason for the reduction in livestock in the ministry's report is the abnormal drought observed in the country during the grazing season for the second year in a row. The Union of Pig Breeders presented a list of the largest pork ...