Canadian Herd Inventory Record Large on July 1

The Canadian herd inventory on July 1 stood at a record 17.3 million.  This was 537,000 more than the same time last year.  Compared to 2003 when the U.S. closed its border to Canadian cattle due to BSE, this was 1.6 million more.  Canadian officials attributed the increase to limited market opportunities. They said the herd expansion has slowed in the second year of the border closure when compared to the first year.

The United States on July 18 accepted the first live shipments of Canadian cattle since the border was closed on May 20, 2003.  Through the end of August, the U.S. had imported 83,000 head.

Cattle inventories increased in Alberta, which is Canada’s primary cattle province.  Cattle numbers there were up 7.8 percent over the preceding year. Part of the increase was due to interprovincial shipments of feeder cattle to Alberta, which rose significantly.  Also, Alberta is where many of the cattle in the federal “set-aside” program reside.

The July numbers show that producers are holding on to cows that would normally be culled if conditions were normal. There were 914,600 cull cows in Canada, representing 13.9 percent of the 6.6 million cows on farms.  Beef farmers retained 763,200 cull cows, or 13.9 percent of the 5.5 million cows found on beef operations. Dairy producers indicated that 14.3 percent of the 1.1 million milk cows were cull animals.

Cattle producers said that 31.6 percent of all cows, or 2.1 million head, were over seven years of age. Beef cows were generally older. About 35.1 percent of all beef cows were over seven years of age, representing 1.9 million animals.